Cyber Attacks Jump 81 Percent in 2011, ISSA Summit and April Targets

 Cyber Attacks Jump 81 Percent in 2011

Symantec’s annual internet security threat report reports that Symantec blocked over 5.5 billion attacks in 2011 – an increase of 81 percent.  The report also details that hackers exposed 187 million identities in 2011; mobile vulnerabilities increased 93 percent and advanced targeted attacks spread to organizations of all sizes and information workers.

Symantec’s blog offers tip on cyber security and the company is hosting a webinar to discuss the report on May 16th

ISSA-LA Information Security Summit – May 16th 

The Los Angeles Chapter of the Information Systems Security Association will host its 4th Annual Security Summit on May 16th at the Universal City Hilton.  ISSA-LA is led by Stan Stahl from Citadel Information Group who has been a frequent guest on Cyber Law and Business Report.  For information go to http://www.issala.org/.

Latest Cyber Targets: China, Taliban, Iran, Defense Ministries, Apple, Card Processor and an Oscar Winner

Among the notable targets of the latest round of cyber attacks are:

• the Chinese government (attacked by Anonymous)
• the Iranian Petroleum Ministry
• the Taliban
• the Air Force and the British and French Defense Ministries
• the American Embassy in Russia
• Global Payments (credit card processor that exposed 1.5 million credit cards)
• Skype
• Apple
• Avaaz (an online activist site that campaigned against CISPA);
• Government sites for the District of Columbia, Utah and the Philippines, Tunisia and India;
• Academy Award-winning actress Charlize Theron and Mark Raffalo (currently playing the Hulk in “The Avengers”).

Apple’s security came under attack when Kapersky Lab’s founder stated the company was “ten years behind Microsoft” in terms of security, as recent attacks have exposed Apple’s air of invulnerability.