Online retailers seeing more hack attacks

Posted on Saturday, December 13 2008 @ 8:17 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
SecureWorks claims online retailers are seeing a 161% increase in the number of attempted hacker attacks:
SecureWorks®, a leading Security as a Service provider, reports they have seen a 161% increase in the number of attempted hacker attacks they are blocking for their retail clients. Attempted attacks increased from an average of 56,000 per client per month in the first six months of the year to 133,000 per client per month for the last five months. The attack statistics represent the attack activity for 36 major retail corporations located across the country.

SecureWorks' security researchers attribute the overall increase to a rise in attempted authentication attacks, SQL Injection attacks and network scans.

"We saw a large increase in hackers looking for open ports, as well as those trying to identify the applications and other services our retail clients were running," said Wayne Haber, director of architecture for SecureWorks. "An increase in network scans is often a red flag because many times it is followed by attacks specifically targeted at the organization's services," said Haber. "Attempted network scans against our retail clients increased 61% in 2008 going from an average of 56,000 per client per month in the first six months of the year to 90,000 per client per month in the last five months of the year," continued Haber.
More info over here.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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