Category Archives: The Coming Storm

This category includes blog posts about computer and Internet security threats now and on the horizon.

Naming and Shaming ‘Bad’ ISPs

March 19, 2010

I asked or simply polled some of the most vigilant sources of this information for their recent data, and put together a rough chart indicating the Top Ten most prevalent ISPs from each of their vantage points. ISPs or hosts that show up more than others on these various lists are color-coded to illustrate consistency of findings (click the image to enlarge it). The trouble is, all of these individual efforts map badness from just one or a handful of perspectives, each of which may be limited in some way by particular biases, such as the type of threats that they monitor. For example, some measure only phishing attacks, while others concentrate on charting networks that play host to malicious software and botnet controllers.

Researchers Map Multi-Network Cybercrime Infrastructure

March 17, 2010

Last week, security experts launched a sneak attack against Troyak, an Internet service provider in Eastern Europe that served as a gateway to a nest of cyber crime activity. For the past seven days, unnamed members of the security community reportedly have been playing Whac-a-Mole with Troyak, which has bounced from one legitimate ISP to the next in a bid to reconnect to the global Internet. But experts say Troyak’s apparent hopscotching is in fact the expected behavior from a carefully architected, round-robin network of backup and redundant carriers, all designed to keep a massive organized criminal operation online should a disaster like the Troyak disconnection strike.

Cyber Crooks Leave Traditional Bank Robbers in the Dust

March 9, 2010

Organized cyber criminals stole more than $25 million from small to mid-sized businesses in brazen e-banking heists in the 3rd quarter of 2009 alone, federal regulators said last week. In contrast, traditional stick-up artists hauled less than $9.5 million out of U.S. banks over that same time period last year.

Simmering Over a ‘Cyber Cold War’

January 29, 2010

New reports released this week on recent, high-profile data breaches make the compelling case that a simmering Cold War-style cyber arms race has emerged between the United States and China. A study issued Thursday by McAfee and the Center for Strategic… Read More »