This report surveyed 200 IT security executives from critical electricity infrastructure enterprises in 14 counties, focused on the critical civilian energy infrastructure that depends most heavily on industrial control systems.

Forty percent of the IT security executives from critical electricity infrastructure enterprises believed that the industry’s vulnerability had increased almost 30% and believed that their company was not ready for cyber-attacks.

“We found that the adoption of security measures in important civilian industries badly trailed the increase in threats over the last year,” said Stewart Baker, who led the study for CSIS.

“Ninety to 95% of the people working on the smart grid are not concerned about security and only see it as a last box they have to check,” said Jim Woolsey, former United States director of Central Intelligence.

Some of the key findings of this report

• Eighty percent of respondents have faced a large-scale denial of service attack
• Twenty-five percent of respondents have been victims of extortion attempts
• More than 40 percent of executives believe that their industry’s vulnerability has increased
• Almost 30 percent believe their company is not prepared for a cyber-attack
• More than 40 percent expect a major cyber-attack within the next year
• Energy sector increased its adoption of security technologies by only a single percentage point, at 51 percent
• Oil and gas industries increased by only three percentage points, at 48 percent
• Nearly 70 percent of respondents frequently found malware designed to sabotage their systems
• A quarter of respondents reported daily or weekly DDoS attacks

After reading the complete report it’s evident that there has been an increase in cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure and still most of the organizations are unprepared. Time has come to design the critical infrastructure systems with cyber-security in mind, and organizations need to implement stronger network controls, to avoid being vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

The two main Bredolab variants detected this month were W32/Bredo.G and W32/Bredolab.X, most notably included in fake DHL invoice spam campaigns.

Derek Manky, project manager, cyber security and threat research, Fortinet commented: “We’re seeing record levels of scareware building off volume from September, and the danger in these threats is only becoming more serious as the methods for delivery evolve and the blending of attacks bring more complexity.
“As we’ve seen in the consistency of repeated threats, the old schemes are still proving to be good methods. Enterprises and consumers must take equal responsibility in understanding the disguises of these threats and implementing a multi-pronged security solution that addresses the different and changing characteristics of tried and true tactics,” he added

During the month of October 2009 Scareware tactics have reached all time high, with worst ever attacks reported. Seven of the top ten malware variants detected linked back to scareware, with scareware tactics diverging to include botnets, corrupted advertisements and SEO attacks.

The most notable development in October 2009 was the preponderance of AntiVirus Pro 2010 rogue security software, which when installed will contact a remote server in order to obtain malicious payload and receive updated copies; a trojan downloader named Bredolab which is now downloading AntiVirus Pro 2010 installers and the ZBot keylogger; and the ongoing development of affiliate programs that tempt participants with a handsome pay-out on each software download purchased. Tools and kits are readily available to participating affiliates, accelerating the distribution of scareware and other malicious components.

Read the full October Threatscape report, which includes the top threat rankings in each category.

Microsoft just rolled out their new Security Software as free download available in nineteen countries, as per Microsoft Middle East spokesperson the localized version for Middle East will be only available at later part of 2009.

The latest offering from Microsoft “Microsoft Security Essentials” protects the consumers from viruses, malwares and spywares. The “Microsoft Security Essentials” is released freely without any registration or renewal demands.

As we know the real-time security software’s are available but at a price, this effort from Microsoft can at least assure some of its loyal customers to get a high-quality protection which is easy to get and easy to use.

Microsoft’s latest offering - “Microsoft Security Essentials” - protects consumers from viruses, spyware and malware, and will be released freely without any registration and renewal demands in an effort to “encourage broader adoption of anti-virus protection.”

Initially Microsoft codenamed “Microsoft Security Essentials”as “Morro” will be released in 8 languages. It will be available for Windows XP SP2 or SP3, Windows Vista and Windows Live and can be downloaded from Microsoft’s web site http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Lest see how MacAfee and Symantec face the challenge.

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Visit http://www.cisco.com/go/realm to learn more.

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