© Max_Knight

Maker of antivirus and security software AVG has released a new report that offers valuable insight on trends in the field of cyber crimes. According to the company there has been a significant increase in the overall number of global attacks in 2011, and a marked rise in the professionalism and structure of global organized cyber crime.

This includes major growth in malicious campaigns that exploit the viral nature of Facebook, a notable increase in risk for smartphone users, and a significant increase in Blackhole Exploit Kits, which are used by criminals to coordinate attacks. Facebook is currently the internet's second most visited website, and as such it is a clear target for cyber criminals. There was a continuing increase in attacks of Facebook users using 'click-jacking' scams. Defense from these scams requires constant vigilance and profiles without suitable privacy settings are subject to exploitation by marketers or cyber criminals and could be sued for identity fraud.

© Ian Muttoo

Last Thursday, Howard Stringer, Sony's chairman and chief executive apologized for the security breach proving the fact that Sony is not using any identity theft tool. This incident has left the personal data of 77 million customers open for hackers and trackers making identity theft serious.

The company warned the customers about the identity theft but lately gave the one year subscription to a surveillance service that will poll for identity theft victims and will alert them. This surveillance service is very reactive since thieves can make a lot of damage before the alert goes on. In this place a security freeze can really help. The initial cost of freeze will be around $20 or so per bureau, which depends largely on the regional state laws and also if one was previous victim of the identity theft or not.

© ComputerMonger

A conference in Kuala Lumpur next week is gathering together cyber crime fighters from around the world and from diverse backgrounds in business, technology, law enforcement, communications and research. They are meeting to plan the next stages in the critical war on cyber crime. The conference, called CeCOS V, is organized by the Anti-Phishing Working Group and major tech sponsors like Google, Microsoft, McAfee and others.

It will provide a unique forum for uniting leading analysts, technologists, and law enforcement around the critical questions of how the world can respond to the growing cyber crime threat. The cost of cyber crime worldwide, which includes electronic bank fraud, identity theft, phishing scams, botnets and other schemes is estimated to be north of $1 trillion worldwide. Participants in the conference will share and discuss recent findings, case studies, and breakthroughs that can aid in response and mitigation efforts.