Data security incidents hit 47,000 in 2012
Posted: May 8, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: apac, APTs, china, CISO, cloud computing, cyber crime, data breach investigations report, DBIR, due dilligence, hong kong, informato, state sponsored espionage, targeted attacks, verizon Leave a comment »Last week I popped over to the Quarry Bay HQ of Verizon Business in Hong Kong to hear more about the annual Data Breach Investigations Report.
The report’s really come on since I covered it way back in 2008, and this year pulled data from an unprecedented 19 reputable sources including Scotland Yard, the US Department of Homeland Security and many more.
The Register covered the main news from the report when it was launched the week before – that China was responsible for a whopping 96 per cent of state-affiliated attacks – so I was keen to get some other APAC-relevant insight from the team.
Unfortunately there wasn’t much to be had, in fact the report itself only mentions Asia Pacific once as a break-out region, to illustrate the top 20 threat types across the whopping 47,000 security “incidents” recorded over 2012.
What this probably tells us is that methods of collecting the data at the moment are pretty non-standardised across the globe, which makes drawing any clear comparisons difficult between regions.
Another thought that occurred: it’s fairly obvious that organisations across the globe suffer from the same kinds of information security risk – whether hacktivist, financially motivated criminal or state sponsored espionage-related.
As Verizon’s HK VP Francis Yip said: “No one is immune from cyber crime. As long as you have an IP address, you are a target, no matter how long you spend online.”
In this respect, there were no startling new trends as such to pull out of the report, aside from China’s consistent and persistent appearance as number one source of state-sponsored shenanigans.
This is probably good news for under fire CISOs, now tasked not only with deflecting financially motivated cyber crime and attempts from hacktivists to take down their sites and steal credentials, but also under-the-radar information theft from APT-style attacks.
What’s also good news, is Verizon’s assertion that the cloud is no less safe than any other form of computing system, as long as IT teams make sure they carry out due diligence on providers.
“Cloud can actually be more secure, because these providers are doing it on an industrial scale with staff who know what they are doing,” argued Verizon’s APAC head of identity and privacy services, Ian Christofis.
While all this is certainly true I definitely got the impression from the briefing that many firms are still failing on the security basics.
“Could try harder” is probably a suitable report card take-away for businesses from 2012.
Patriot games as hackers exchange fire over disputed islands
Posted: April 27, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: china, cyber crime, hacking, hacktivist, Panatag Shoal, philippines Leave a comment »
This week we saw more news emerge of the escalating tit-for-tat cyber attacks apparently being launched by actors sympathetic to the Philippines and China over a naval stand-off in the South China Sea.
Scarborough Shoal - also known as Panatag Shoal or Huangyan island – is the region long-disputed by the two countries and things got serious earlier this month after Filipino navy officials tried to arrest Chinese fisherman operating in the area but were stopped by Chinese surveillance boats.
Cue a barrage of cyber attacks on Philippine government and university web sites by apparent Chinese hackers, and then reprisals from the other side.
It’s pretty basic stuff, site defacement and DDoS attacks designed to send a clear message to the other side, and in this kind of thing China is probably a world leader.
Although it will never be revealed exactly how many patriotic hacktivists there are in the People’s Republic, what’s more interesting is their relationship with the government. In all but the most repressive states – think Iran or Syria – governments disassociate themselves from any hacking behaviour, but I learnt recently that China has done the opposite.
It has long been suspected, but China has effectively made a deal with the hacking community, a source told me, which goes thus:
- Never hack your own government or companies in your own country
- If you find anything of interest in your hacking activities which could help your country improve its status on the world stage, hand it over.
- When called upon to help the ‘cyber military’, make sure you respond
The deal is simple, the source explained, follow these rules and you can hack away with impunity. It means attacks of the sort seen this month on the Philippines can be carried out with the covert blessing of the government and the Party.
Of course the PRC’s standard response to these accusations is that it denounces all hacking activities, that it is taking steps to prevent cyber crime and that China itself is as much a victim of such attacks as western countries.
Even if tracking technologies mature to the level where the source of such attacks can be pinpointed, by operating at arm’s length, the government will always have the advantage of plausible deniability. It’s just a case of whether the international community will eventually lose patience with China and demand action, economic superpower or not.
