Seminar Series: Technology Trends 2007
Organised Cybercrime & Phishing: The Godfathers of
the Internet
Stephen
McCombie, Manager, IT Security Assessment and Response,
National Australia Bank
Gartner Research estimated in 2005 that annual losses from
“Phishing” attacks in the US alone were USD$928 Million annually (Lidan
2005). Considerable anecdotal evidence exists to suggest that
transnational organised crime groups are involved in this “Phishing”.
The possibility of the involvement of transnational crime groups
particularly those operating out of Eastern Europe and West Africa
is of concern.
The rise of “Phishing” has seen the “Black Hat” hacker community
in recent years transformed from a culture based largely on youthful
exploration to one focused on criminal profit. With that shift
markets for “Phishing” tools, for “Botnets”, for zero day
vulnerabilities and compromised credentials “Phished” have been
established to support this highly organised criminal trade.
Spammers, malware writers, hackers and organised crime have come
together as never before. Extensive efforts to facilitate the
laundering of the illicit earnings of these crimes have also been
observed.
This seminar will provide an overview of the nature of “Phishing”
attacks, those who are behind the attacks and what is being done to
stop them.
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