Targeted Attacks, Cyber Warfare, Mobile Threats: What to Expect in 2012

Not only will there be a dramatic increase in the number of targeted attacks on state institutions and large companies, it is also likely that a wider range of organisations will bear the brunt of the expected onslaught. Kaspersky Lab has just published its 'Cyber threat Forecast for 2012', where the company details its predictions for the year ahead.

Kaspersky Lab experts predict that attackers will have to change their methods in response to the
growing competition among the IT security companies that investigate and protect against targeted
attacks. Increased public attention to security lapses will also force the attackers to search for new
instruments. The conventional method of attacks that involve email attachments with vulnerability
exploits will gradually become less effective, while browser attacks will gain in popularity.

The Kaspersky Lab forecast goes on to state that hacktivist attacks on state organisations and
businesses will continue in 2012 and will have a predominantly political agenda. Alexander Gostev
believes this will be an important trend when compared to similar attacks in 2011. However,
hacktivism could well be used as a diversionary tactic to conceal other types of attacks.

In terms of mobile threats in 2012, Kaspersky Lab expects to see Google Android continue to be the target of choice for the mobile malware market as well as an increase in the numbers of attacks that
exploit vulnerabilities. The emergence of the first mobile drive-by attacks and mobile botnets are also
forecast. Mobile espionage will become widespread and will most probably include data theft from
mobile phones and the tracking of people using their telephones and geo-location services.