cybercrime

There is growing talk of cyberwar, as opposed to run-of-the-mill cybercrime. There are also terms that lies somewhere in the middle called cyber espionage, and cyber hacktivism--which is sort of like cyber terrorism for good guys. At the heart of the debate is an attempt to define the scope of an appropriate response to each type of threat.

Despite so much bragging about its success it sometimes failed to mention the role of security specialist Kaspersky Labs, Microsoft's successful takedown of the Kelihos botnet may need a version 2 or 3 or even 4 to be successful, because the first solution was just too weak to hold.

In 2011, the increasingly mobile and socially networked world of technology became more intertwined than ever with politics and the law. Patent wars shaped competition in tablets and smartphones, hacktivists attacked a widening array of political and corporate targets, repressive regimes unplugged citizens from the Internet, and the U.S. government moved to block the giant merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA. With the passing of Steve Jobs, the world lost a technology icon who redefined the computer, entertainment and consumer electronics industries. These are the IDG News Service's picks for the top 10 technology stories of the year:

In a scene more credible inside the game, two gangs of thieves crashed out or blocked in delivery vans, disabled the drivers with tear gas and took off with $500K worth of the hottest unreleased video game of the year.

A document purportedly leaked form the FBI's criminal-profiling unit calls Anonymous not a collection of activists , but a unified criminal group focused on protest and social disruption.

Cybercrime, especially malware, is rising, but not evenly. More Chinese suffer than Japanese, men more than women, slackers more than A/V updaters, 'net addicts more than luddites.

The British teen accused of being LulzSeccer Topiary was released on bail amid protests from Anonymous, and a rash of hacks against police, none of which has slowed the arrests at all.

U.S. Marshals stopped 30 billion spams per day shutting down the Rustock botnet in March, but no one filled that niche, presumably because spam is now riskier than other crimes.

Here’s a tale of wonder from the land down under.

With firewalls, antivirus and other security mechanisms protecting corporate networks, how do attackers manage to penetrate enterprise computer systems? Simply by exploiting the weakest link in the security chain. One of the newest methods is tunnelling in via employees' browsers using an attack known as "Man-in-the-Browser" (MitB).

Botnet makers are shifting from front-line crime to software development, renting their product to anyone with money to pay and mayhem to make.