Symantec: Elections, Mobile Computing Among 2008 Security Threats -- Redmond Channel Partner

Symantec: Elections, Mobile Computing Among 2008 Security Threats

By Keith Ward
November 19, 2007

If it's time for Christmas music in Wal-Mart, it must the season for that other time-honored tradition: year-end lists. To that end, IT security Goliath Symantec has released a list of the biggest security stories of the year.

But what of 2008? What does Symantec predict are the trends to watch next year?

Election Campaigns. As political candidates increasingly turn to the Internet, it is important to understand the associated IT security risks. These risks include, among others, the diversion of online campaign donations; dissemination of misinformation; fraud; phishing; and the invasion of privacy.

Bot Evolution. Symantec expect bots to diversify and evolve in their behavior. We may see things like phishing sites hosted by bot zombies, for example.

Advanced Web Threats. As the number of available Web services increases and as browsers continue to converge on a uniform interpretation standard for scripting languages, such as JavaScript, Symantec expects the number of new Web-based threats to continue to increase.

Mobile Platforms. Interest in mobile security has never been higher. As phones become more complex, more interesting and more connected, Symantec expects attackers to take advantage.

Spam Evolution. Symantec expects to see spam continue to evolve in order to evade traditional blocking systems and trick users into reading messages.

Virtual Worlds. Symantec expects that as the use of persistent virtual worlds (PVWs) and massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) expands, new threats will emerge as criminals, phishers, spammers, and others turn their attention to these new communities.

About the Author

Keith Ward is the editor in chief of Virtualization & Cloud Review. Follow him on Twitter @VirtReviewKeith.

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