back to article Gosh, these 'hacker' nerds are only getting more sophisticated

Hackers have moved away from simple point-of-sale (POS) terminal attacks to more refined assaults on corporations' head offices. An annual report from security firm Trustwave out today highlighted increased sophistication of web app hacking and social engineering tactics on the part of miscreants. Half of the incidents …

  1. Florida1920

    Fighting the last war

    Generals are often accused of fighting the last war, not the one in front of them. The common denominator in all cyber attacks is the end user. As long as uneducated users click on dangerous links, the hackers will always be launching the next war.

    1. Charles 9

      Re: Fighting the last war

      And with the new assumption that the average user is incapable and/or unwilling to learn, that adds up to the assumption that you're already pwned, just bend over. Even if people are told it'll be their fault if they get pwned, it'll probably have unintended consequences like people abandoning banks and going back to cash in the mattress as lower risk. After all, if their country goes under, odds are they're already dead.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Fighting the last war

        " abandoning banks and going back to cash in the mattress "

        Any one who attempts that will find it at least as difficult as going back to horse and buggy.

        Cyber-crime can have a negative effect on your life even if you are homeless and eating from a soup kitchen.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Linux

      Re: Fighting the last war

      @Florida1920: "Generals are often accused of fighting the last war, not the one in front of them. The common denominator in all cyber attacks is the end user. As long as uneducated users click on dangerous links, the hackers will always be launching the next war."

      Until the 'experts' can come up with computers that don't download and run dangerous executables by clicking on a link, the hackers will always be launching the next war or else move to a Linux desktop:

      Ubuntu 3D Desktop

      Linux Desktop Roundup

      1. GIRZiM
        Devil

        Re: Fighting the last war

        >Until the 'experts' can come up with computers that don't download and run dangerous executables by clicking on a link [...] move to a Linux desktop:

        Like this one, you mean?

  2. Daedalus

    Who woulda thunk it?

    Everybody in IT understands that the C-suite and their hangers-on are simultaneously the most over-privileged and least savvy parts of a company. One tale after another tells how some top dog ordered something that borked security just so the dog could sniff at anything it wanted. The only surprise is that it took this long for the hackers to figure that out.

  3. JWillForklifts

    Don't buy it

    Can see the bias here. Phishing, DDoS and Insiders, as well as exploiting the mistake of providers placing emphasis more on third parties, which is a direct entry point for interference with data via humans by no means makes dumb hacker smarter.

    SQL injection and XSS requires an element of insider knowledge unless it is utterly poorly written. The article gives no context on to how that intelligence is gathered.

    This article is designed to increase the profile of the everyday hacker which are the information source for theregister.co.uk and the black hats are not sophisticated no matter what deals are done.

    It seems quite obvious does it not?

  4. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    "CEO fraud" - I thought it meant something different.

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