FTC Spam Summit Snippets
A parade of high-tech experts shared their views on unsolicited mass e-mail and how it is evolving in the 21st century at a Wednesday spam summit sponsored by the FTC. [Read Technology Daily's PM Edition for details].
Here's what some speakers had to say on the first of the two-day conference:
Part I: The Incentive
Patrick Peterson, vice president at IronPort Systems, said spam is fueled by capitalism and its creators are "talented and genius" and their efforts are geared toward maximizing profits, he said. Their job is getting harder though "because they are operating in an incredibly hostile environment." That means spammers must constantly change their approach to stay ahead of law enforcement and industry filters, he said.
Andrew Klein, senior product marketing manager for SonicWALL, said spammers have gotten much more resourceful in recent years. In the early days of malicious junk e-mail, the focus was on selling credit card numbers through chat rooms for pocket change. Then, along came "botnets" -- armies of software robots that hijack computers and steal personal and financial data -- and the battleground changed forever.
RSA Security's Jens Hinrichsen pointed out that spammers have transitioned from solely targeting the financial sector to zeroing in on "any kind of institution that has valuable credentials to be had." Federal credit unions, for example, are prime targets, he said.
Progress has been made on combating crimeware but there is a long way to go, Hinrichsen said. Simpler steps are needed to shut down Web sites that host spammers and phishers once they are discovered, he said.
Part II: The Players
So, who is behind this online criminal activity? U.S. Postal Inspector Gregory Crabb provided a dossier. Some spammers have strong connections with Russian gangs, some are of Middle Eastern descent and others are just "kids" in the U.S., he said. There is "a prevailing youth" among the Web's most wanted. Many are 18 to 25 years old, Crabb said.
"That doesn’t mean that organized crime in Eastern Europe or elsewhere have not gone to these individuals and leveraged capabilities they’ve developed to attack the computers of our consumers to be able to further their crimes," he said.
Crabb ended his talk on an ominous note. He warned that "we're on the verge of seeing more and more terrorism organizations and others trying to penetrate our networks trying to further their schemes."
Part III: The Costs
The business costs of a malware attack are monumental, said Heinan Landa, president of Optimal Networks. One set of financial burdens are associated with recovering from such an intrusion -- like lost data and restoring that data and repairing or replacing the vulnerable system. Separate costs are incurred from steps taken to prevent future breaches, he said.
"Anything that can be done to help mitigate the cost and complexity of fighting malware, especially if it's geared toward small and mid-sized businesses, not only will have a significant negative impact on the malware economy, but I think it will have a significant positive impact on our nation's economy," he said.
On the last panel of the day, officials discussed emerging threats. Speakers included Michael Altschul of the wireless association CTIA; Cloudmark's Dave Champine; MX Logic's Scott Chasin; News Corp.'s Rick Lane; and IBM's Christopher Rouland.
Categories:
Conferences
Join the Discussion
The National Journal Group has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.
Comments powered by Disqus