Breaking News - Security:
IBM Sees Surge In Attacks On 'Critical Infrastructure Providers'
Network attacks against critical infrastructure providers such as utilities,
telecommunications companies and government agencies surged 55 percent from
July to August, according to IBM's Global Security Intelligence Services.
Since July, IBM has seen a 27 percent increase in overall network attacks
against all monitored enterprises and businesses.
Businesses are increasingly dependent on information technology and the
Internet to run their daily operations. With their network infrastructures
increasingly under attack, IBM, through its Global Business Security Index,
helps alert these businesses in advance to the onslaught of threats to help
them proactively secure their networks.
The IBM Global Business Security Index -- created by IBM's global security
experts -- is a monthly report that assesses, measures and analyzes global
network security and business threats and attack trends. The Index is compiled
by harnessing the historical and current data collected by IBM's 2700
information security professionals and half a million monitored devices to
provide a picture of the IT and business threat landscape. IBM's IT security
intelligence and business consulting experts analyze the vast amount of data
collected by IBM network and system monitoring sensors. The experts then rate
the potential severity of known IT threats, producing a unique snapshot of the
current IT security landscape.
The report, which may be customized by industry, tracks real and potential IT
threats to a business including:
- IT network and infrastructure, including potential and real threats that
could significantly damage a customer's business and reputation Business
continuity trends, statistics and recommendations for keeping employees,
customers, suppliers and partners connected with critical business information
during natural disasters, such as hurricanes, and widespread power failures
IBM confirmed 997 Internet attacks in September directed at networks that the
company monitors, representing a 27 percent increase over confirmed Internet
attacks in July and August. The most prevalent attacks came from several
worms, such as Sasser and Korgo, seeking to exploit a vulnerability located
within LSASS, a security component of the Microsoft Windows operating system.
- Critical infrastructure providers experienced an increase in worm traffic
-- as did most IT environments, according to IBM's analysis. The most apparent
increases, however, were caused by attackers seeking vulnerabilities in Web
server software (e.g., Microsoft IIS, Apache HTTP Server, and Netscape
iPlanet). This type of reconnaissance activity typically precedes more
complex, singularly directed attacks against systems that are found
vulnerable.
"In the fight against IT security threats, timing is everything," said Stuart
McIrvine, director of IBM's security strategy. "Knowing about new threats and
vulnerabilities before they become attacks and proactively taking steps to
prevent harm is now more critical than ever. These days, hackers are able to
reverse engineer newly published security patches and deploy an attack on an
unpatched system in 48 hours. Companies that have elevated security issues
from the server room to the boardroom are tapping into IBM's worldwide
security expertise, intelligence and technological resources to help preempt
global attacks."
Many Fortune 500 companies and government entities in 34 countries around the
world use a variety of IBM's monitoring services, such as its Intrusion
Detection Service, Vulnerability Testing and Assessment Service, to keep
abreast of current attacks and threats around the clock. On average, IBM's
monitoring services detects 100 million suspected or actual attacks against
customers each month. In addition, newly-discovered IT threats, such as new
vulnerabilities, malware or general risks posed to IT environments, are
assigned a potential severity score from zero to 10 in various categories.
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