Concern Growing Over CyberCime

[Spyder32]

Source: Blackcode.com

From Blackcode.com:
A wave of cyber attacks from pro-Islamic hackers, the Government's floundering plans to monitor e-mail and Web traffic, and a new wave of viruses dominated the headlines during 2002.

The year began with a series of raids on local government offices by professional criminals looking for Sun equipment. In one alarming development, IT staff at Barking and Dagenham Council were tied up and assaulted.

Concern grew over the adequacy of the UK's computer crime law, the Computer Misuse Act. Ministers are now considering a review of the Act, following a campaign by Computer Weekly, Eurim, and other IT user groups.

Poor security practices were rife. One Computer Weekly reader stumbled onto major security gaffes in the systems of Taxchecker which left tax returns available online.

Consulting firm DDPlus found it could gain access to servers belonging to ISP Easynet, gain administration rights and download sensitive files including an unencrypted list of passwords belonging to Easynet customers.

In November, the US Government announced plans to deport UK systems administrator Gary McKinnon after he allegedly hacked into US defence systems.

The UK Government, meanwhile, ran into difficulties with its e-mail snooping legislation. With opposition mounting from ISPs, which will have to bear the costs, and privacy concerns from civil liberties groups, it finally conceded that it will have to rethink its approach.

The killer blow came when a legal opinion obtained by the Information Commissioner concluded that the monitoring and access laws were, in combination, in breach of Human Rights legislation.

This isn't good at all IMO. A systems administrator was caught hacking into U.S defence systems (put's shame onto us System Admin's) and was deported. I'm not all too familiar with the Computer Misuse law's over in UK, so if someone can tell me a little about them, that would be great.

Load's of virii and lot's of Pro-Islamic hackers attacking the U.S topped the year of 2002, which has proven to be one hell of a year. I saw somewhere (wish I remembered the link) that last year was worse with virii and hack attempts, but as each year goes by, the amount performed and the numbers get higher. This is a problem that desperately need's attention to, as if the number continually increase's, the entire internet will experience far worse problems as well as System/Network Admin's. What are your thoughts?....


EDIT: Damnit, I screwed up the title. Ahh, oh well, Sorry guys.

[t2k2]

I don't think it has caught on fully quite yet, but I believe that this will mean more jobs for budding Security Professionals as well as job security for those already in the field. I'm glad to have got in when I did. I keep hearing of programs run by the government offering to educate eager IT workers to help fight cybercrime/cyberterrorism. Of course, an increase in any form of crime is not good, but I can see where it would spark some growth opportunities as companies get more and more security-aware. I pray that it's not too little too late in the battle against this new, but old, breed of criminal. I'm up to the challenge. :P


t2k2

[Spyder32]

Oh hell yeah I'm up for the challenge. The one true thing I can remember from that Hackers: Outlaws and Angel's program on TV that make's me think of this is there discussion on how everday there are advancements in this battle in both the offense and defense. They also said how their are continually more people joining this battle, again, for both offense and defense. I wish I had a tape of it, it was really interesting. Anyways, I'm definitely up for the challenge, and I hope many people want to learn alot about the IT industry and join the right side. Their are more blackhat's than we thought. We need more people to learn about IT studies and learn what is right. This is JMHO, what's your opinion on it?

[t2k2]

Most definitely. I would really like to go out and recruit for the industry, or at least just make people aware of how much qualified and interested people are needed to beef up the industry. I wish I was able to see that special. You guys have been talking about it so much. I really hope that they air it again soon. Maybe I could write to them for a copy of the tape for a fee. It was on TLC, right? The fact that there are advancements on both sides - as you mentioned - is one of the main reasons I am so attracted to my field. I love how I have to stay as current as possible with trends in IT and especially those in the Information Security industry, learn new technologies and concepts constantly, and try to think like the attacker. It definitely keeps me on my toes, and most of all, it keeps my job exciting. Sometimes, I think my brain is going to overload! It's great!