Prevention strategies for the next wave of cyber crime

Abstract

Internet scams such as phishing and pharming are now regular headline hitters. When financial institutions such as banks and insurers are affected, you can be sure that the public will start to watch the people who are meant to be securing their assets. The professional hacker only cares about making money, not about public perception, shareholder profits or revenue growth; the worries of a normal business. When faced with such devotion to a cause, can the financial sector ever prevent an attack on its systems? It needs a new approach and new strategies for what are still very new crimes. A scientist from Verisign takes us through some prevention tools. Internet scams such as 'phishing' and identity theft have made global headlines in 2005. The foiled @$220m heist against Sumitomo Bank in London in March is just one example of the potential aftermath of such attacks. Online fraud threatens to erode the public's trust in the Internet, and the bad news is that cyber criminals, notably phishing gangs, are increasingly employing more sophisticated tactics. As soon as the IT industry copes with one threat, another emerges in response to anti-phishing countermeasures.