Another Cyber Attack Hits Europe

Maricelle Ruiz — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 12:15:00 GMT

When Estonia suffered a series of cyber attacks in recent months, US official John Negroponte told the Financial Times: “We need to prepare ourselves because this is likely only to become more of an issue in the future.” Well, the future is here. And the wave of cyber attacks has moved from Eastern to Western Europe. It has recently been disclosed that around the time Estonia was under cyber attack, an important Spanish domain-registration company was also waging a battle against unknown cyber pirates. The Cyber Terrorism Division of the Spanish Police is investigating the incident. If identified, the hackers involved could be prosecuted for blackmailing a company to prevent the disclosure of confidential information.

There seems to be a disagreement regarding the severity of the situation. While some reports claim that the private data of hundreds of thousands of Internet users is in the hands of criminals, the leading Spanish company in the domain registration and web hosting business, Arsys, has issued a statement denying this information. Executives concede the company has experienced what they describe as “a security incident, compromising some client data.” However, they say, none of the data in question involves email, bank account or credit card passwords and therefore, they claim there’s no risk of illegal access into bank or email accounts.

According to Arsys, hackers reportedly stole FTP codes, enabling them to insert a link to an external server containing malicious code, in the web pages of some clients. As soon as the company detected the incident, executives say it eliminated the link from the web pages, notified affected clients and boosted security measures across the board. To comply with legal requirements, executives add the company has reported the incident to the Cyber Terrorism Division of the Spanish Police. They confirm the incident is under investigation and may end up in court.

The attackers reportedly used servers located in the United States and Russia. According to the latest Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, the United States is the top country for malicious threat activity, accounting for 31% of the worldwide total, followed by China (10%), Germany (7%), France (4%), United Kingdom (4%), South Korea (4%), Canada (3%), Spain (3%), Taiwan (3%) and Italy (3%). Meanwhile, law enforcement authorities have detained a Russian teenager suspected of involvement in the Estonian cyber attacks. The youth reportedly called for massive cyber attacks against Estonian servers in Internet forums.

An Explosion in Cyber crime Sets Off Alarms in Europe

Maricelle Ruiz — Tue, 29 May 2007 02:15:00 GMT

A video circulates on the Internet linking several individuals accused of the largest terrorist attack in Europe, the 2004 Madrid train bombings, to the incident. It is attributed to Iraqi-based, terrorist organization Ansar el Islam. The video shows pictures of an alleged planner and several of the suspected executers of the attack. It also shows graphic images of the attack and its aftermath as well as maps of the Madrid train system and of Al-Andalus, the area of the Iberian Peninsula governed by Muslims centuries ago. This video and similar websites are said to be used by terrorists to recruit supporters for their cause.

The European Union wants Member States, third countries and the private sector to join forces to put an end to the use of cyberspace for criminal purposes, including the incitement to terrorism. To that end, it has released the Communication “Towards a General Policy on the Fight against Cyber Crime;” scheduled conferences on public and private cooperation; and is considering the adoption of targeted legislation. Besides dealing with cyber terrorism, the European Union wants to tackle skyrocketing online child pornography and financial fraud, particularly identity theft for the fraudulent use of credit cards, as well as cyber attacks.

The European Union urges countries to adopt the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime of 23 November 2001 and the EU’s Council Framework Decision 2005/222/JHA of 24 February 2005 on Attacks against Information Systems.

The European Union is in the process of collecting regional statistics on the magnitude and cost of cyber crime, which officials predict to be enormous, judging by the following data. The UK-based Internet Watch Foundation reports a 1,500 percent rise in child pornography sites accessible from this country in an eight-year period. In Norway, 7,000 people are said to be looking at child pornography on the Internet every day. Cyber crime losses in the United States, meanwhile, account for up to $400 billion per year. In the United Kingdom, 89 percent of businesses have been attacked in a year. Estonia was recently subjected to weeks of cyber attacks forcing the shut down of key public and private sites. The UK Financial Services Authority reports an 8,000 percent increase in bank fraud within a two-year period.

IBLS Speaker's Corner : cyber crime

Another Cyber Attack Hits Europe

An Explosion in Cyber crime Sets Off Alarms in Europe