Olympics - A Major 2008 Computer Threat

2008 may be a busy year when it comes to computer threats, as the attackers prepare an avalanche of malicious attempts over our systems, Websense wrote in the "2008's Top Ten Security Threats" report published today. Although the security vendor presented all the top ten threats which may appear next year, I prefer to talk about the first and the most dangerous one: the Olympics. It may sound a little bit weird, but the hackers/ attackers/ scammers/ spammers/ phishers can't wait the Olympics because many of their attempts will be based on this major event of 2008.

Just think at spam. Many unsolicited messages arriving in your inbox will be related to the competition, asking users to download and install infected files. Websites will also be affected, many attackers aiming to inject dangerous codes which could affect every new visitor of the page. Phishing attacks will rise as the hackers may want to steal users' bank information, by luring them on Olympics related pages.

"As the Olympic torch burns, Websense researchers predict the possibility of large scale denial-of-service (DoS) attacks on Beijing Olympic-related sites as political statements and fraud attempts through email and the Web surrounding the Olympics. Additionally, Websense predicts compromises of popular Olympic news or other sports sites -attacks designed to install malicious code on end-users' machines and steal personal or confidential business information," Websense wrote in the report.

Certainly, an antivirus technology, a firewall and an antispyware technology are a "must have" during the Olympics. In addition, extra care is also recommended, as users are advised to avoid malicious websites and emails coming from untrusted persons, who might attempt to install dangerous codes on potential victims' computers.

"Looking at the current attack trends, cyber criminal techniques are evolving quickly and efficiently to not only evade detection, but to steal data and manipulate trusted content such as Web sites and applications," said Dan Hubbard, vice president of security research, Websense. "It's critical that organizations and individuals recognize that attackers are changing techniques and launching targeted attacks", he concluded.