A new report out by online security firm Symantec indicates that the fastest and largest growing sector of online security attacks are attacks against home users and their computers.
According to Symantec’s Arthur Wong, “Attackers see end users as the weakest link in the security chain and are constantly targeting them in an effort to profit.”
According to the report, nearly 70% of all computer Internet security weaknesses documented in the first half of 2006 were web browser vulnerabilities. Meaning that the bad guys target a security weakness in your personal computer’s web browser.
Individual personal computers are the low hanging fruit for these guys. WIth the means and the motivation – getting your cash – cyber criminals find the security flaws in your home computer to be child’s play that offer quick access to your financial account information, social security number, and passwords.
Explains Ken Dunham, of iDefense, the security arm of Verisign, “We have this stealthiness and this cash angle. When you put the two together, you have a dangerous combination of criminality with means and motives that enable it. As long as these attackers can hide, they can maintain control over the computer and get your credit card number, your social security number, your date of birth, and other information they need to fully exploit the victim.”
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According to Symantec, “attackers are now using a variety of techniques to escape detection and prolong their presence on systems in order to gain more time to steal information, hijack the computer for marketing purposes, provide remote access, or otherwise compromise confidential information for profit.”
[“Marketing purposes”? That’s an interesting spin on spam.]
Here’s the thing that most people don’t realize:
The majority of hacks into personal computer systems are undetected.
You may think that you’ve been lucky so far, but in reality your system may already have been used by a hacker, who is remotely using your system to send phishing messages and spam, or who is capturing all the passwords you type.
So what can you do to protect yourself, and your computer?
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