Cyber [Crime_War] - Connecting the dots (SA) - PART 5
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In recent years Cybercrime has been front-page news as a result of an increase in profit-motivated internet crimes; and an apparent lack of sufficient security measures that leave standard internet users virtually unprotected from internet crimes.
Software security vendors have been trying to show progress in the fight against cybercrime - with some success. The vast majority of Internet users, however, are still unprotected from internet crime that includes fraud, phishing and identity theft. The success of financial cybercrime has served to fuel further increase in its levels as more and more criminals turn to the Internet as a means for theft.
It is likely this problem would have been shadowed by other IT security issues, were it not for the fact that major corporations are also being targeted - with measurable success - and that attacks are growing more and more sophisticated by the day (check out www.datalossdb.org for statistics and samples).
Cyber warfare (i.e. government warfare conducted over the internet), on the other hand, hasn't drawn considerable media attention , mostly because of lack of evidence connecting cyber attacks with government policy or actions. In some circles cyber warfare is not even considered a serious topic of discussion, being closely associated with conspiracy theories.
At the same time governments across the world are investing vast resources in developing cyber warfare weaponry and awareness, as part of their overall defense and offense strategy.
Leading industrial nations, such as the US, Russia and the UK, as well as developing cyber-nations including China and Iran, are trying to make sure they won't stay behind in the cyber arms race; while at the same time trying to keep "off the radar" in terms of public and media awareness to their actions.
This paper will explore possible links between the political activities of national governments, and cybercrime activities, through events that included substantial cyber-warfare characteristics. We will also outline a mechanism by which cybercrime is often connected with cyber warfare - to the benefit of both governments and cyber criminals.
Background
While researching last year some "behind-the-scenes" aspects of cybercrime (including technical threats by criminals and business aspects of cybercrime), we uncovered some interesting material from a criminally operated server. This material led us to the conclusion that there are possible links between a certain criminal organization and government/state dealings.
We then observed several famous cases linking cybercrime with political international conflicts, using our experience in order to shed light on mechanisms of cybercrime, and to identify links between cybercrime and state-sponsored cyber-attacks.