July 10, 2012
To the layman, summer usually means warm, sandy beaches and cocktails with little straw hats. However, according to security experts who spoke with csoonline.com, it may mean some added headaches for IT personnel. These experts listed a few common threats that spring up during the summer months. Here are four of them:
1.The Olympics
E-mail phishing scams talking about the upcoming Olympics (which begins July 27) are, and will continue to be, a threat well into the summer months. You should be worried if an employee says he got an email about an “all-expense paid trip to the Olympics.”
2. Summer Vacations IT’s summer threats
In today’s BYOD (bring your own device) world, employees’ devices contain more sensitive data than ever before. That, along with how often devices are lost during summer trips, can put company data at risk. Absolute Software, a lost-device- tracking company, reports that five percent of smartphones will be lost or stolen in the U.S. next year, and that one-in-10 laptops are stolen during a lifecycle.
3. “Hacktivist” Season
Hacker groups like Lulzsec and Anonymous have been known to make politically-charged attacks against governments, major companies, and IT consultancy firms during the summer months. During summer 2011, they attacked AT&T, British Newspaper The Sun, Black & Berg Cybersecurity Consulting, and more.
4. Hacker Conferences
Security Conferences like Black Hat and Defcon can create an opportunity for hackers to “show off” and find ways to interrupt the conference and/or steal sensitive data. During Black Hat 2009, a USB thumb drive that was passed around among attendees of Black Hat was found to be infected with the Conficker virus.
Posted By: James Sweeney