According to a recent Kaspersky Lab Report every “corporation, regardless of its size or industry, is at risk of becoming the victim of a targeted attack by a variety of threat actors including APT groups, politically-driven “hacktivists,” and more advanced cybercriminals, who offer their services for hire.”

The report entitled “The Evolution of Corporate Cyberthreats” goes on to say:

All APTs are vehicles for cybercrime but not all cybercrimes involved APTs.

Although both are based on monetary gain, APTs specifically target more sensitive data including passwords, competitive intelligence, schematics, blueprints, and digital certificates and are paid for by third-party clients or resold in the underground.

General cybercrime operations are direct “for profit” attacks and target customers’ personal and financial information which can be quickly monetized and laundered underground for ID theft and fraud.

Here are different types of target attacks identified by Kaspersky:

  • Economic Espionage: Targeted Information: Intellectual property; proprietary information; geopolitical, competitive or strategic intelligence
  • Insider Trading Theft: Targeted Information: Pending M&A deals or contracts; upcoming financial earnings; future IPO dates
  • Financial & Identify Theft: Targeted Information: Employee and customer personally identifiable information; payment transactions; account numbers; financial credentials
  • Technical Espionage: Targeted Information: Password or account credentials, source code, digital certificates; network and security configurations; cryptographic keys; authentication or access codes
  • Reconnaissance and Surveillance: Targeted Information: System and workstation configurations; keystrokes; audio recordings; emails; IRC communications; screenshots; additional infection vectors; logs; cryptographic keys

In order to assist clients lawyers need to learn more about APTs!

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