In the pre-Anonymous world when life was simpler, most cyber attacks were opportunistic in nature, carried out by cyber criminals who just wanted to make a quick buck.
Today, Corporate America is scrambling to shift its virtual shields in response to a sweeping change in the motive behind cyber attacks that is being been driven by the rise of “hacktivist” groups like Anonymous.
The evolution toward ideologically-motivated cyber strikes has changed the type of attacks companies need to be on guard for and shoved onetime happy-go-lucky companies into the crosshairs of powerful digital adversaries.
“They are looking at technology as a means to get out a human-rights message,” said Dave Marcus, director of security research for McAfee Labs. “They see themselves as Robin Hoods and champions of lots of different things.”
Anonymous Creates Headaches
The stakes are high. Failure to protect against an attack can do serious reputational and financial damage to companies, especially those that rely on websites to interact with consumers and customers. More
