While some cybercrime is politically motivated or general vandalism, the vast majority of attacks are designed to make money. So how do cybercriminals turn their exploits into cash? Even knowledgeable security professionals who understand these types of attacks may not understand the numerous schemes used to monetize them. The following primer, broken down into “moneymaker” […]

There are four “winners” in the first-ever Cisco Cybercrime Showcase, but only two deserve applause. Two categories — Cybercrime Hero and Cybercrime Sign of Hope — shine a spotlight on individuals and entities who have made significant, positive contributions during the past year toward making the Internet a safer place for all users. Meanwhile, the other two categories, Most […]

We’ll deviate a little from my last blog entry to discuss something a little more recent. In the past few weeks a massive zombie was exposed called conficker. Although the payload of this zombie is not yet apparent, it still caused many organizations to upgrade their corporate hosts to the latest patch level from Microsoft. […]

Ten years ago this month, the Melissa virus was released. At the time, it was considered a groundbreaking virus through its use of email. During the ensuing ten years, many naively believed that computer viruses would have become a thing of the past, but that was not the case. Today, new, more virulent malware exists, […]