Undeclared
Cyberwar Targets Infrastructure Companies
Telecom,
finance, transportation, petroleum, water and power companies indicate that
their networks are subject to widespread attacks from foreign governments and
cybercriminals. McAfee published its
cyber security report which was written by the Center for Strategic and
International Studies (CSIS). The
report entitled "In the Crossfire: Critical Infrastructure in the Age of
Cyberwar," looks at seven industrial sectors in 14 different
countries. The survey was conducted by
U.K. research firm Vanson Bourne, Ltd., and involved interviews with 600 IT and
security executives. It found general concern the security threats in the
future may get even worse. The report
found that cyber attacks that resemble the attack reported by Google from China
are being experienced by companies across many industries.
The report
shows that 54% of the executives surveyed have been subject to 'Large-scale
denial of service attacks by high level adversary like organized crime,
terrorists or nation-state (e.g. like in Estonia and Georgia),'" the
report says. "The same proportion said they had been subject to 'stealthy
infiltration' of their network by such a high-level adversary 'e.g. like
GhostNet' -- a large-scale spy ring featuring individualized malware attacks
that enabled hackers to infiltrate, control, and download large amounts of data
from computer networks belonging to non-profits, government departments and
international organizations in dozens of countries." According to an interview with
InformationWeek, Stewart Baker, a CSIS distinguished visiting fellow and former
secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security and an attorney
with Steptoe & Johnson underscored the seriousness of the situation. "We asked people who ought to know about
attacks on their infrastructure under an assurance of anonymity and what we
found is that this is a very significant threat," he stated. "It
really is substantial."
Related Link:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222600289