The Big Recession has not hit the criminals operating in cyberspace, as more reports surface that the underground economy remained much healthier in 2009 than its more familiar aboveground counterpart.
“The pundits say it’s going to get worse,” writes IT security consultant and systems administrator Michael Kassner in his TechRepublic column. “Every prediction I read suggests that cyber criminals are going to continue leveraging existing vulnerable technologies and find new and more effective (for them) vulnerabilities to exploit.”
Three big areas where most of the security experts are in agreement include:
- Cloud computing: As more businesses move toward the cloud’s unprecedented storage and processing power, the bad guys are sure to follow.
- Data breaches: Security technology simply is not keeping pace with the rapid growth in data center size and capacity. “Data breaches in 2009 were minor compared to what’s expected for 2010,” Kassner says.
- Social networks: With a surge in their popularity in 2009, “social networks are ripe for plundering,” according to Kassner.
“We did learn a great deal in 2009,” Kassner concludes. “Amazing innovation in IT security also occurred. It’s now up to us, so I’m thinking 2010 will be a good year.”