[pchelpers] News:New breed of cyberattack takes aim at sensitive data

Posted 12/26/2005 11:51 PM
By Jon Swartz, USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO — A new breed of targeted digital attack designed to filch 
sensitive data from computers at businesses and government agencies has 
emerged as the latest cyberthreat, tech security experts say.

Organized crime groups in Eastern Europe and Asia are behind the 
attacks, which spy on the PCs of employees with access to highly 
sensitive data so they can rip off bank account numbers, credit card 
numbers and other information, says Phillip Zakas, CEO of 
computer-security firm Intelli7.

The targeted e-mails — launched through e-mail attachments containing 
malicious code — often appear to come from business associates and are 
hard to spot, he says. When opened, the attachment installs a small 
program on the victim's PC that downloads more malicious code and copies 
sensitive data.

"These new attacks are corporate espionage," says Patrick Hinojosa, 
chief technology officer at Panda Software, which is releasing products 
next month designed to detect targeted attacks. Symantec and McAfee also 
are incorporating new features in their security products to spot 
targeted attacks.

More here:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-12-26-cyber-attack-usat_x.htm

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