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AVG Research Team Forecasts Security Trends to Watch in 2008

  • 11 January 2008
AVG Research Team Forecasts Security Trends to Watch in 2008
Security experts at Grisoft, developer of the AVG family of security software products, reveal their forecast for the top security threats facing computer users in 2008.

1. Web exploits and web-based social engineering attacks. "Viruses will continue to be a threat, but we'll also see an explosion of exploits through social engineering and Web 2.0 attacks in 2008," said Roger Thompson, chief research officer at Grisoft.

2. Storm Worm on the rise. "Storm is here to stay," said Karel Obluk, Grisoft chief technology officer. "We're seeing pieces of Storm sold off to the bad guys and we expect orchestrated attacks across multiple platforms."

3. Email-propagated viruses. Many novice users remain unaware of email security issues and continue to open attachments from senders they do not know or click on unsafe hyperlinks.

4. Web exploits targeting trusted web sites. "Today's cybercriminals tend to go for the low-hanging fruit," said Thompson. "If they can infiltrate a popular site, they will reap their rewards quickly and be gone in no time."

5. An increase in the number of Windows Vista attacks. With increasing adoption of Microsoft's latest operating system, Vista will become a bigger and thus a more tempting target for the bad guys.

While AVG expects international law makers to pay closer attention to cybercrime in 2008, it's unlikely that stronger laws will deter cybercriminals. "The international laws against drug trafficking have not significantly dented the traffickers' incomes," said Obluk. "So there's little reason for us to believe that laws against criminal behaviour in cyberspace will have much impact on online fraud. There is simply too much money to be made."

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