McAfee Labs Predicts Geolocation, Mobile Devices and Apple Will Top the List of Targets for Emerging Threats in 2011
December 28 2010 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
McAfee, Inc. (NYSE:MFE) today unveiled its 2011 Threat
Predictions report, outlining the top threats that researchers at
McAfee Labs foresee for the coming year. The list comprises 2010’s
most buzzed about platforms and services, including Google’s
Android, Apple’s iPhone, foursquare, Google TV and the Mac OS X
platform, which are all expected to become major targets for
cybercriminals. McAfee Labs also predicts that politically
motivated attacks will be on the rise, as more groups are expected
to repeat the WikiLeaks paradigm.
“We’ve seen significant advancements in device and social
network adoption, placing a bulls-eye on the platforms and services
users are embracing the most,” said Vincent Weafer, senior vice
president of McAfee Labs. “These platforms and services have become
very popular in a short amount of time, and we’re already seeing a
significant increase in vulnerabilities, attacks and data
loss.”
McAfee Labs Threat Predictions for 2011:
Exploiting Social Media: URL-shortening
servicesSocial media sites such as Twitter and Facebook have
created the movement toward an “instant” form of communication, a
shift that will completely alter the threat landscape in 2011. Of
the social media sites that will be most riddled with cybercriminal
activity, McAfee Labs expects those with URL-shortening services
will be at the forefront. The use of abbreviated URLs on sites like
Twitter makes it easy for cybercriminals to mask and direct users
to malicious websites. With more than 3,000 shortened URLs per
minute being generated, McAfee Labs expects to see a growing number
used for spam, scamming and other malicious purposes.
Exploiting Social Media: Geolocation
servicesLocative services such as foursquare, Gowalla and
Facebook Places can easily search, track and plot the whereabouts
of friends and strangers. In just a few clicks, cybercriminals can
see in real time who is tweeting, where they are located, what they
are saying, what their interests are, and what operating systems
and applications they are using. This wealth of personal
information on individuals enables cybercriminals to craft a
targeted attack. McAfee Labs predicts that cybercriminals will
increasingly use these tactics across the most popular social
networking sites in 2011.
Mobile: Usage is rising in the workplace,
and so will attacksThreats on mobile devices have so far been
few and far between, as “jailbreaking” on the iPhone and the
arrival of Zeus were the primary mobile threats in 2010. With the
widespread adoption of mobile devices in business environments,
combined with historically fragile cellular infrastructure and slow
strides toward encryption, McAfee Labs predicts that 2011 will
bring a rapid escalation of attacks and threats to mobile devices,
putting user and corporate data at very high risk.
Apple: No longer flying under the
radarHistorically, the Mac OS platform has remained relatively
unscathed by malicious attackers, but McAfee Labs warns that
Mac-targeted malware will continue to increase in sophistication in
2011. The popularity of iPads and iPhones in business environments,
combined with the lack of user understanding of proper security for
these devices, will increase the risk for data and identity
exposure, and will make Apple botnets and Trojans a common
occurrence.
Applications: Privacy leaks—from your
TVNew Internet TV platforms were some of the most
highly-anticipated devices in 2010. Due to the growing popularity
among users and “rush to market” thinking by developers, McAfee
Labs expects an increasing number of suspicious and malicious apps
for the most widely deployed media platforms, such as Google TV.
These apps will target or expose privacy and identity data, and
will allow cybercriminals to manipulate a variety of physical
devices through compromised or controlled apps, eventually raising
the effectiveness of botnets.
Sophistication Mimics Legitimacy: Your
next computer virus could be from a friendMalicious content
disguised as personal or legitimate emails and files to trick
unsuspecting victims will increase in sophistication in 2011.
“Signed” malware that imitates legitimate files will become more
prevalent, and “friendly fire,” in which threats appear to come
from your friends but in fact are viruses such as Koobface or
VBMania, will continue to grow as an attack of choice by
cybercriminals. McAfee Labs expects these attacks will go hand in
hand with the increased abuse of social networks, which will
eventually overtake email as a leading attack vector.
Botnets: The new face of Mergers &
AcquisitionsBotnets continue to use a seemingly infinite supply
of stolen computing power and bandwidth around the globe. Following
a number of successful botnet takedowns, including Mariposa,
Bredolab and specific Zeus botnets, botnet controllers must adjust
to the increasing pressure cybersecurity professionals are placing
on them. McAfee Labs predicts that the recent merger of Zeus with
SpyEye will produce more sophisticated bots due to improvements in
bypassing security mechanisms and law enforcement monitoring.
Additionally, McAfee Labs expects to see a significant botnet
activity in the adoption of data-gathering and data-removal
functionality, rather than the common use of sending spam.
Hacktivism: Following the WikiLeaks
pathNext year marks a time in which politically motivated
attacks will proliferate and new sophisticated attacks will appear.
More groups will repeat the WikiLeaks example, as hacktivism is
conducted by people claiming to be independent of any particular
government or movement, and will become more organized and
strategic by incorporating social networks in the process. McAfee
Labs believes hacktivism will become the new way to demonstrate
political positions in 2011 and beyond.
Advanced Persistent Threats: A whole new
categoryOperation Aurora gave birth to the new category of
advanced persistent threat (APT)— a targeted cyberespionage or
cybersabotage attack that is carried out under the sponsorship or
direction of a nation-state for something other than pure
financial/criminal gain or political protest. McAfee Labs warns
that companies of all sizes that have any involvement in national
security or major global economic activities should expect to come
under pervasive and continuous APT attacks that go after email
archives, document stores, intellectual property repositories and
other databases.
For a full copy of the 2011 Threat
Predictions report from McAfee Labs, please visit:
http://www.mcafee.com
About McAfee
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