I read an article yesterday that suggested we may be hurting ourselves by extending too many warnings about cyberspace activities such as spyware, malware, and phishing, which could be giving cyber criminals more credit than they deserve. So this morning when I read this article from Websense, stating that organized crime aka ‘the Mob’ was joining forces with cyber criminals, it peaked my interest.

Websense seems to think that because big bucks are involved in cyber crime - estimates run into the billions - ‘the Mob’ is going to want a piece of the action. And ‘the Mob’ will then organize cyber criminals and a rain of terror will descend upon us all, the likes which we have not seen since Moses brought the plague to Egypt. Or something to that effect.

OK. I know that cyber crime is on the rise. And I agree law enforcement is somewhat hampered from controlling this type of Internet crime since it involves the entire world. But to throw ‘the Mob’ into the equation? I guess my first question would be who is ‘the Mob’ that Websense is addressing? I know it didn’t use the words ‘the Mob,’ specifically, but the term ‘organized crime’ makes one think ‘the Mob’ - at least it does for me.

The article goes on to state that:

In 2006, cybercrime and the evolution of new cyber-criminals increased. In 2007, Websense expects underground cybercrime to become better organized and run a better economy. As part of that growing economy, the market for zero-day attack code will be more competitive.

Did I mention that Websense sells security software.

The full press release is available here. Enjoy!

Tags: cyber crime, mob, attacks, spyware, malware, phishing, criminals, 2007