Emerging threats in the APT world: Predictions for 2015
PUNE: By closely observing more than 60 threat actors responsible for cyber-attacks worldwide, Kaspersky Lab's Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) of experts recently compiled a list of the top emerging threats in the Advanced Persistent Threat or APT world.
For several years now, Kaspersky Lab's team has shed light on some of the world's biggest Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) campaigns, including RedOctober, Flame, NetTraveler, Miniduke, Epic Turla and Careto/Mask, among others.
The list of the top emerging threats in the APT world include the fragmentation of bigger APT groups, said a Kaspersky Lab statement. " A growing number of smaller threat actors is likely to lead to more companies being hit. And larger organizations are expected to experience a greater number of attacks from a wider range of sources," it said.
Other threats include APT-style attacks in the cybercriminal world. "The days when cyber-criminal gangs focused exclusively on stealing money from end users are over. Criminals now attack the banks directly because that's where the money is. And they use APT techniques for these complex attacks. Targeting executives through hotel networks is yet another threat. Hotels are perfect for targeting high profile individuals around the world. The Darkhotel group is one of the APT actors known to have targeted specific visitors during their stay in hotels," the statement said.
Other threats include enhanced evasion techniques. More APT groups will be concerned about exposure and will take more advanced measures to shield themselves from discovery.
The release said that in 2015, more groups are expected to use cloud services in order to make exfiltration (the unauthorized transfer of data from a computer) stealthier and harder to detect.
"If we can call 2014'sophisticated', then the word for 2015 will be 'elusive'. We believe that APT groups will evolve to become stealthier and sneakier, in order to better avoid exposure. This year we've already discovered APT players using several zero-days, and we've observed new persistence and stealth techniques. We have used this to develop and deploy several new defense mechanisms for our users," said Costin Raiu, director of the team at Kaspersky.
The list of the top emerging threats in the APT world include the fragmentation of bigger APT groups, said a Kaspersky Lab statement. " A growing number of smaller threat actors is likely to lead to more companies being hit. And larger organizations are expected to experience a greater number of attacks from a wider range of sources," it said.
Other threats include APT-style attacks in the cybercriminal world. "The days when cyber-criminal gangs focused exclusively on stealing money from end users are over. Criminals now attack the banks directly because that's where the money is. And they use APT techniques for these complex attacks. Targeting executives through hotel networks is yet another threat. Hotels are perfect for targeting high profile individuals around the world. The Darkhotel group is one of the APT actors known to have targeted specific visitors during their stay in hotels," the statement said.
Other threats include enhanced evasion techniques. More APT groups will be concerned about exposure and will take more advanced measures to shield themselves from discovery.
The release said that in 2015, more groups are expected to use cloud services in order to make exfiltration (the unauthorized transfer of data from a computer) stealthier and harder to detect.
"If we can call 2014'sophisticated', then the word for 2015 will be 'elusive'. We believe that APT groups will evolve to become stealthier and sneakier, in order to better avoid exposure. This year we've already discovered APT players using several zero-days, and we've observed new persistence and stealth techniques. We have used this to develop and deploy several new defense mechanisms for our users," said Costin Raiu, director of the team at Kaspersky.
Emerging threats in the APT world: Predictions for 2015
Reviewed by Anonymous
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December 21, 2014
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Reviewed by Anonymous
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December 21, 2014
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