The year 2011 was characterized by major data breaches and targeted attacks on high-profile companies and agencies. Cybercriminals diversified their targets to include new platforms, as business use of mobile devices accelerated. And we saw a number of politically motivated
“hacktivist” groups take the media spotlight, even as the more common threats to our cyber security grew
Security experts and the media liked talking about hacktivist groups Lulz Security (LulzSec) and Anonymous as they sowed chaos by leaking documents and
attacking websites. And we watched with interest and concern as targeted attacks hit high-profile organizations like RSA and defense contractors. Cybercriminals are becoming more professionalized through the availability of commercial crimeware kits like the increasingly popular Blackhole kit. The result is mass generation of new malicious code and exploits, and a significant increase
in the volume of malware. In the coming year, businesses will be challenged to manage these threats alongside new ways of accessing applications and data, like mobile and cloud services.
