Predicting the future threats is very tough in today's technology driven world. Going back and comparing the threat scenario few years ago with today will provide an insight into how quickly the threat has become more serious in a short period of time.
The virus writers of yesteryears were like the gun slinging cowboys of the Wild West who created virus code for fame and the desire to showoff their technical virtuosity. Today, they have become commercial endeavors involved in stealing & trading valuable information and identity. With many countries turning the heat on these gangs and laws becoming stringent, the future may see the consolidation of these endeavors into entities that will remind us of the Mafias. Future criminal operations will be on a bigger global scale that will have far reaching repercussions.
Some of the future threats scenario is likely to involve modular malicious code spread mostly through the growing phenomenon of bot networks that can bypass signature based detections. These modular malicious codes will be able to download other modules and update themselves and evolve, thus effectively, escaping the dragnet of most security solutions.
Experts at MicroWorld also predict that social engineering and open source sites will witness a scrooge of malware pretending to be utility software distributed as freeware and shareware capitalizing on the human emotions of freeloading. Although Windows based systems remain the main target of the cyber criminals, future threats will witness these financially motivated cyber criminals turning their attention to alternative platforms such as Apple Macintosh, Linux etc. and portable wireless devices such as the PDAs, iPhone, iPod Touch and ultra-mobile PCs.
“Though the future looks gloomy in the security scenario for computer users, security solution providers have also geared up to face challenges in securing and controlling the criminal's attempt to capitalize on new technology to make money and cause disruption. In addition, threats like identity theft and fraud will still be occurring far into the future because of human mistakes. However, if managed properly, the problem should not be insurmountable as sound security practices, up-to-date protection and an active commitment to keep informed can, together, help defend business networks in the year ahead and the good news is that security software is also evolving with proactive detection of new, unknown malware threats at an all-time high.” said Rohini Sonawane, COO of MicroWorld Technologies .
The virus writers of yesteryears were like the gun slinging cowboys of the Wild West who created virus code for fame and the desire to showoff their technical virtuosity. Today, they have become commercial endeavors involved in stealing & trading valuable information and identity. With many countries turning the heat on these gangs and laws becoming stringent, the future may see the consolidation of these endeavors into entities that will remind us of the Mafias. Future criminal operations will be on a bigger global scale that will have far reaching repercussions.
Some of the future threats scenario is likely to involve modular malicious code spread mostly through the growing phenomenon of bot networks that can bypass signature based detections. These modular malicious codes will be able to download other modules and update themselves and evolve, thus effectively, escaping the dragnet of most security solutions.
Experts at MicroWorld also predict that social engineering and open source sites will witness a scrooge of malware pretending to be utility software distributed as freeware and shareware capitalizing on the human emotions of freeloading. Although Windows based systems remain the main target of the cyber criminals, future threats will witness these financially motivated cyber criminals turning their attention to alternative platforms such as Apple Macintosh, Linux etc. and portable wireless devices such as the PDAs, iPhone, iPod Touch and ultra-mobile PCs.
“Though the future looks gloomy in the security scenario for computer users, security solution providers have also geared up to face challenges in securing and controlling the criminal's attempt to capitalize on new technology to make money and cause disruption. In addition, threats like identity theft and fraud will still be occurring far into the future because of human mistakes. However, if managed properly, the problem should not be insurmountable as sound security practices, up-to-date protection and an active commitment to keep informed can, together, help defend business networks in the year ahead and the good news is that security software is also evolving with proactive detection of new, unknown malware threats at an all-time high.” said Rohini Sonawane, COO of MicroWorld Technologies .
