Internet fraud has become a multi-billion dollar business with thieves stealing bank account information and credit card numbers and then selling them online.

Hi-tech thieves who specialize in card fraud have a credit line in excess of $5bn, research by the world’s largest maker of security software, Symantec, suggests.

Symantec calculated the figure to quantify the scale of fraud it found during a year-long look at the internet’s underground economy, BBC News website reported.

FAVORITE TARGETS

1. Credit card data 31%
2. Financial accounts 20%
3. Spam & phishing info 19%
4. Withdrawal service 7%
5. Identity theft data 7%
6. Server accounts 5%
7. Compromised PCs 4%
8. Website accounts 3%
9. Malicious application 2%
10. Retail accounts 1%

Credit card numbers were the most popular item on sale and made up 31% of all the goods on offer. Coming in second were bank details which made up 20% of the items being offered on criminal chat channels. The $5.3bn figure was reached by multiplying the average amount of fraud perpetrated on a stolen card, $350, by the many millions Symantec observed being offered for sale. Similarly, the report said, if hi-tech thieves plundered all the bank accounts offered for sale they could net up to $1.7bn.

Symnatec said it was likely that many of the cards offered for sale were invalid or cancelled and bank accounts closed but it added: “These figures are indicative of the value of the underground economy and the potential worth of the market.”

Credit card numbers have proved so popular among hi-tech thieves because they are easy to obtain and use for fraudulent purpose. Many of the methods favoured by cyber criminals, such as phishing schemes, database attacks and magnetic strip skimmer, are designed to steal credit card information, it said.

The existence of a ready market for any stolen data the growing use of credit cards also helped maintain their popularity, it said.

“High frequency use and the range of available methods for capturing credit cards data would generate more opportunities for theft and compromise and, thus, lead to an increased supply on underground economy servers, ” said the report.

The price card thieves can expect for the numbers they offer for sale also varied by the country of origin. US card numbers were the cheapest because they were so ubiquitous – 74% of all cards offered for sale were from the US. By contrast numbers from cards issued in Europe and the middle East commanded a premium because they were relatively rare.

Courtesy Times of India

The number of unwanted, offensive and misleading emails sent across the globe went down by 75% to a mere 60 billion or so a day, according to spam filtering companies.

And the billions of dollars pumped into the fight through anti-spam software or legal battles have nothing to do with the breakthrough.

Instead, a ragtag band of researchers pulled off the unprecedented coup of drastically cutting the spam volume by  adopting a new strategy: going after mainstream US companies that can unknowingly help spammers, identity thieves and child porn purveyors by carrying their traffic on the internet, the Los Angels Times Reported.

McColo, a californian-based company played house to some of the world’s worst online victory criminal gangs and was booted off the internet following an investigation by Washington Post security researcher Brian Krebs.

The company’s online presence was extinguished after Krebs alerted McColo’s access providers Global Crossing and Hurricane Electric earlier this week to the criminal material it was pumping out over their networks.

Few expect the relief to last. The major anti-virus firm Symantec predicted a return to the previous level by Christmas. But the rare victory gives hope to those combating spam and other “malware” by showing that even as the bad guys get smarter, new strategies can make a difference.

Courtesy Times of India November 18, 2008

The growth of IT sector in India has propelled the growth of the hardware industry too, which has even rubbed off onto the telecom infrastructure and equipment industry. India and China are the fastest growing IT hardware products markets in the Asia Pacific region. With the efforts to increase broadband offerings and internet and PC penetration, other related hardware products too will be at an advantage.

The computer hardware industry is continuously growing over 30% annually and is expected to do so till 2012. But this might face some slowdown with the current situation - inflation, rupee fluctuations and economic turmoil. As per MAIT, Indian consumers and businesses bought 7.34 million units during the previous fiscal and the industry association forecasts that they will consume 8.5 million in fiscal 2008-09. The front runners, who are the huge buyers of hardware products, are the small and medium businesses (SMBs). This market is estimated to be $11.5 billion for 2007-08, of which the SMB contribution is expected to be $4.3 billion. At the same time, PCs, printers and peripherals will together account for more than 50% of SMB hardware revenues, predicts research firm Zinnov.

As per research firm BMI, the hardware industry (including telecom hardware), has seen investments of more than $18 billion in hardware manufacturing in India. However, a high tax regime means that around 25% of the retail price of an average computer goes to the government, and there are fears that this may delay growth.

According to Gartner, PC sales in the first half of 2008 was 4.7 million units, 11.25% higher than in H1 2007; notebook sales were 1.25 million units in H1 2008 up by 94.5%. Hardware sales in India are $11.6 billion at present; this includes strategic electronic with $4.87 billion, computer electronics with $4.87 billion, computer electronics with $4.87 billion, and communication and broadband equipment with $2.32 billion.

The computer hardware peripherals and accessories include the CPU, mother boards, hard disk, RAM(memory), floppy drives, display adaptors, monitors, keyboards, mouse, CD ROM/CD writers/external drive to DVD ROM/DVD writer, sound cards, speakers, modems, UPS, printers, scanners, softwares, TV tuner/FM cards, tape / pen drives, cartridges, networking products, wireless networking products, cables and connectors, memory cards, laptop products and accessories. The PC penetration amongst SMBs was 15.7% in 2007-08. This experts think, will hit 38% by 2012.

Internet laptops

While laptops are growing rapidly, the newest area of growth within that segment is expected to be basic internet access laptops. Some of these have been designed specifically for Indian consumers. Industry experts say that vendors are moving towards the low-price ultra portable notebook. It is said to be seeing great potential with certain demographics.

HCL has been promoting its MiLeap laptops, which are priced Rs 13,990 upwards. HP and Dell are both scheduled to launch ultra portables in 2008, both priced at below $500.

The ultra portable laptop are powered by the Intel celeron M ULV processor with 2-GB flash drive storage.

The laptops are rugged, eco-friendly and come with an Intel chipset that reduces power usage. These laptops come with a 7 inch screen and have an integrated WiFi 802.11a/b/g LAN connection.

Courtesy Times of India October 25, 2008

Your PC’s hard drive used to be the center of computing is shifting out onto the Internet. More and more of the software and data we use lies on the Net, and we tap into it through our browsers. The World Wide Web is turning into a World Wide Computer. It’s similar to what happened with electricity utilities a century ago. Why run a waterwheel next to your factory when you can just plug into the grid ?

Individuals are leading this shift, particularly young people. We increasingly use online software to read our email, store and touch-up our photos, do our taxes , read encyclopedia articles, play games, and connect with friends on social networks. The whole Web 2.0 phenomenon is built on the ability to tap into shared software and data on the Web. I’d argue , in fact, that a large percentage of people already are spending more time using Web apps than installed programs. Who wants the hassle of buying and troubleshooting software when you can get it online easily and usually for free ?

Businesses will move to online computing more slowly, mainly because they have so much invested in their private hardware and software. But the success of pioneering utility computing vendors like Salesforce.com and Amazon Web Services shows the intrinsic ap-peal of letting suppliers buy the machinery and run the software.