Hackers Take a Hit as Cybersecurity Industry Booms
From “Operation Card Shop” to “Operation High Roller,” the cybersecurity headlines this week sounded more like something out of a Las Vegas casino.
Keeping a poker face for nearly two years, on Tuesday the US Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed its major sting operation to crack down on hackers, announcing the agency had arrested 24 people around the globe for engaging in credit card and banking cyber crime.
Dubbed “Operation Card Shop,” undercover FBI agents set up an online forum called “Card Profit,” where hackers could communicate and buy, sell and trade stolen credit card numbers and other personal banking information.
According to court papers, Card Profit allowed the FBI to monitor, record and track the hackers as they attempted to exploit the financial information they received through the forum.
“From New York to Norway and Japan to Australia, Operation Card Shop targeted sophisticated, highly organized cyber criminals,” said Janice Fedarcyk, assistant director of the FBI’s New York office. “Spanning four continents, the two-year undercover FBI investigation is the latest example of our commitment to rooting out rampant criminal behavior on the Internet.”
But the FBI may have more work to do, according to a report published online this week by security firms McAfee and Guardian Analytics.
In the report, the companies’ researchers unveiled the discovery of a highly sophisticated cyber attack targeting international banking services in Europe, Latin America and the US.
Being called “Operation High Roller,” the malicious code has intercepted banking transactions, stealing large amounts of money from high-balance financial accounts, with some fraudulent transfers as high as $130,000.
“Debunking the popular wisdom that only big banks are affected, the research documents attacks at every class of financial institution: credit union, large global ban and regional bank,” the researchers noted in the report.
According to McAfee and Guardian Analytics’ estimates, the criminals behind the malware have already netted at least $78 million since deploying the attack.
So, with all of the latest hacking attempts happening across the globe, what is cybersecurity really worth?
According to a research report released Thursday, the market is expected to be valued at $120.1 billion by 2017.
Back in 2011, the cybersecurity market had an estimated worth of $63.7 billion, with companies like Cisco Systems, Check Point Software Technologies, Kaspersky Lab, Fortinet, IBM, CA Technologies, McAfee and Symantec listed as “key market players.”
Let’s just say, if you’re up for a gamble, it seems cybersecurity is your best bet.
—
Following are some additional cyber headlines you may have missed:
FEDERAL NEWS:
Senate Republicans revamp cybersecurity bill (The Hill)
White House calls for comments on protecting intellectual property (White House Blog)
Commerce IG to review recent cyber attack, security practices (Federal Times)
USAID gets detention after failing FISMA test (InfoSecurity)
INDUSTRY OVERVIEW:
Former White House cybersecurity coordinator joins Qualys (Press Release)
International organizations call for coordinated cybersecurity (SC Magazine)
Lawyers get vigilant on cybersecurity (Wall Street Journal)
INTERNATIONAL OUTLOOK:
UK official talks of threats before Olympics (Associated Press)
Iran celebrates the death of Stuxnet (The Atlantic)
‘Anonymous’ hackers attack Japanese govt websites (Jakarta Post)
Cyber attack costs UK firm £800m (Press TV)
Dutch bank cyber attack under formal investigation (Dutch News)
CYBER INSIGHTS:
Rhoades: Sen. McCain’s cyber bill will still leave us vulnerable (The Hill)
____
This report is also featured on ClearanceJobs.com at: http://www.clearancejobs.com/defense-news/714/cybersecurity-news-round-up-hackers-take-a-hit-as-cybersecurity-industry-booms
there will always be a way around anything. There is no perfectly safe system and there never will be.
Nice post which Debunking the popular wisdom that only big banks are affected, the research documents attacks at every class of financial institution: credit union, large global ban and regional bank,” the researchers noted in the report. According to McAfee and Guardian Analytics’ estimates, the criminals behind the malware have already netted at least $78 million since deploying the attack. Thanks a lot for posting this article.