DHS beefs up cybersecurity budget
Cybercrime reaches record level and shows growing sophistication; DHS beefs up its cybersecurity efforts, even as state and local cybersecurity officials say not enough is done to coordinate federal-state cyber defense efforts
Cybercrime is reaching record heights, so DHS is bolstering the department’s cybersecurity capabilities by increasing the budget of the National Cyber Security Division (NCSD), home to the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT). Andy Purdy, acting director of NCSD, said the budget for his organization will likely grow by $25 million in fiscal 2007, a significant increase given that the division’s budget for this year is about $79 million. This increase is timely. Symantec’s Art Wong said that the pattern of cybercrime is changing rapidly. There were far fewer major worm outbreaks last year than in previous years, he said, but there has been a massive increase in malware variants, that is, adaptations of existing viruses, worms, and Trojan horses designed to spread more slowly and attract less notoriety. Hackers are “more insidious than in the past,” Wong said. “They’re hacking for profit, not for fame.” For instance, of the fifty most common computer threats, 80 percent can potentially steal confidential information such as passwords, logins and other personal information, he said.
There are other changes in hacking behavior pointing to the maturation of the hacking sector. Statistics gathered by Symantec show that attacks are being launched more during the regular work-week schedule than on weekends, and more during regular business hours than overnight. There is also growing consolidation: Some specialize in stealing confidential data, but they sell it to others who serve as brokers. Some steal bandwidth, exploiting network vulnerabilities in order to open doors for others. Others set up robot networks, known as botnets, which can propagate autonomously and be run from a hidden command and control center. More than fifty such centers have been identified “in nations where we have a lot of bandwidth and connectivity,” Wong said. The top five countries where such botnets are based: United States, Canada, South Korea, China, and Germany.
-read more in Patience Wait’s GCN report
