Group warns that cybercrime will hit enterprise apps

A global e-business and security certification organization has warned that many commercial applications are being produced across the globe daily, creating new opportunities for malicious attacks on commercial institutions and government.

The International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) said that each day new and stronger attacks are being launched across the globe.

To coordinate protection and defense against this cyber crime epidemic, the EC-Council said it would host an inaugural roundtable in Kuala Lumpur called Asia Pacific (APAC) Roundtable Forum (EC|RF).

The EC-Council is a member-based organization that certifies individuals in various e-business and security skills. It is the owner and developer of Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH), Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator (C|HFI) and EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (E|CSA)/License Penetration Tester (L|PT) programs, which are offered in more than 60 countries.

Fighting cyber-warfare

EC-Council President, Jay Bavisi said that EC|RF, to be held on November 6, 2008, aimed to congregate selected invited regional defense forces, information security community and corporations on one platform to discuss and develop pro active responses and defenses' towards rising cyber warfare, cyber terrorism and cyber crimes.

The roundtable theme was "Modern Defenses Against 21st Century Cyber Warfare & Cyber Crime", and the forum was part of the H@cker Halted Conference - www.hackerhalted.com/malaysia - to be held in Sunway Convention Centre, Malaysia, November 3 -- 6, 2008.

"Our aim is to raise the awareness on information security and available preventive measures so we can stay ahead of cyber criminals," said Bavisi.

Bavisi said the forum would be co-chaired by Professor Dr Lech J. Janczewski, the Associate Professor of the University of Auckland, New Zealand and Chairman of the New Zealand Information Security Forum.

"In 2000, a 16 year old became the first juvenile to be charged for systems intrusion of high profile organizations," said Dr Janczewski. "Cracking into NASA computers, he stole software worth US $1.7 million forcing NASA to shut down its systems."

"Most recently, hackers attacked and hijacked websites belonging to Georgia and rerouted internet traffic to servers located in Russia and Turkey as the country loomed in clashes," he said. "The attacks were reminiscent of coordinated campaigns against Estonian government websites in 2007."