You’ve been hacked
Mobile devices
Cyber criminals are increasingly focusing on mobile devices for access to important information, such as banking details and personal contacts. These hacks cause havoc for CEOs and others who keep important information on their cellphones.
Hotel heiress Paris Hilton’s cellphone has twice been hacked into. Her contact list was stolen and posted on the internet resulting in some of her celebrity friends including Eminem and Christina Aguilera’s phones ringing off the hook.
Her racy photos and personal text messages were also posted.
The information was accessed by attacking web servers controlled and managed by her cellphone company.
However, the most common form of cellphone attack is bluesnarfing – the theft of information from a wireless device through a Bluetooth connection.
“Bluetooth is a high-speed but very short-range wireless technology for exchanging data between desktop and mobile computers, personal digital assistants, and other devices. By exploiting a vulnerability in the way Bluetooth is implemented on a mobile phone, an attacker can access information – such as the user’s calendar, contact list and e-mail and text messages – without leaving any evidence of the attack,” says searchmobilecomputing.com.
Nithen Naidoo of Deloitte told a packed audience at a Tip-offs Anonymous breakfast that cyber criminals usually access information when you agree to connect to an untrustworthy or perceived to be trusted source, like shopping centres.
Other issues that were highlighted at the breakfast were:
The most common cyber crime is Laptap theft (47% in 2006), followed by unauthorised use of computers (32%).
Who drives them?
Disgruntled employees from inside an organisation, followed by hackers and then competitors (53%).
Where do most attacks come from?
According to the 2005 FBI Computer Crime Survey, about 50% of external attacks come from the US and China, other big contributors are Nigeria, Germany, Russia and Romania.
How do cyber criminals attack organisations?
Most cyber criminals use social engineering, ie, asking secretaries for personal information.
They also rely on organisations not fixing their systems and exploit a small number of security flaws, says Kris Budnik of Deloitte.
How long does it take to exploit a vulnerable application?
The time it takes to exploit a vulnerable application is decreasing, says Budnik. It took 331 days between the patch and exploit of Nimda, 180 for Sac slammer, 151 for Welchia and 25 for blaster.
Where is the most noticeable raise coming from?
The most noticeable raise in exploits comes from power point and internet explorer, reckons Budnik. He adds that exploits are becoming more sophisticated and easier to execute. Individuals are creating them and selling them to people who want to target payloads, notes Budnik.
How to limit attacks
Accept that it can happen to you.
Learn how to spot dangers, look out for unwelcome pop-ups on the internet, unreasonable questions and dialogues, says Budnik.
Keep your anti-virus software updated.
Take personal responsibility and time to educate yourself on the steps needed to protect your information, says Budnik.
Today’s communication devices are more than just a cellphone, take time to understand their features.
Avoid getting caught in the “feature trap”.
Be aware of your surroundings and learn to spot insecure behaviour, such as password sharing and forwarding chain letters, notes Budnik.
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