Economic Crisis May Be Boon For Cybercriminals
Kelly Jackson Higgins
Oct 28, 2008
http://www.darkreading.com/security/attacks/
showArticle.jhtml?articleID=211601123
How the global financial crisis is affecting organized cybercrime
One industry sector is actually happy about the current state of the global economy: cybercriminals.
Organized cybercrime has already begun capitalizing on the global financial crisis, cybercrime experts say, with targeted phishing attacks on customers whose banks have folded, and attacks that scam consumers who may be shopping less online, but are now spending more time at home. With fewer business and consumer targets available, the bad guys are redirecting their efforts to adapt to the market. For example, credit cards are out; debit cards are in.
One attack used Citigroup's attempted takeover of Wachovia as a premise for stealing Wachovia customers' credentials. (Wells Fargo eventually outbid Citigroup for Wachovia). "There's been a surge in phishing, telling customers that due to the new takeover, they need new credentials," says Ori Eisen, founder and chief innovation officer for 41st Parameter. If the victim hands over his old credentials to "set" his new ones, it's game over for his bank account information.
Socially engineered attacks are typically a lucrative ploy by seasoned attackers. The FBI is seeing more spear phishing aimed at businesses that were hit hard by the economic downturn. The attackers lure them with promises of financial assistance, for instance, and some even pretend to be subpoenas from the Justice Department. One attack via e-mail urged bidders who had lost out on a government contract to resubmit their bids and, thus, spill sensitive contact and other information.
Other researchers have cited a direct correlation between the stock market's nosedive and an increase in cybercrime activity. And phony antivirus popups warning that your "system may be infected so you'd better run this scan" preyed on fears, he says.
Meanwhile, law enforcement and cybercrime experts say more malicious Web sites posing as economic or financial advisory services will start to emerge in this jittery financial climate.
That means a reverse in the trend from the past few months of cybercriminals' silently infecting legitimate sites. "Expect to see malicious sites crop up that are geared to information-stealing, malware-dropping, pharming, and phishing rather than compromising legitimate site," he says.
And just as street crime increases in times of financial stress, more novice attackers and script kiddies are likely to perform an online version of shoplifting and bank robbery. "You're going to see more quick-hit script kiddies, like street crime," DiMino says.
It's simple enough for these amateur hackers to get into the business -- there's plenty of off-the-shelf software that automates phishing. All it takes is a Web server. "We know [when] it's an amateur because they are leaving their servers completely open and unprotected," Yuval Ben-Itzhak says.
The insider threat, too, will likely also intensify as layoffs spread in the corporate world. "You're going to see insider attacks and less direct hacks," Shadowserver's DiMino says. "There will be more of an attempt to infiltrate from inside, with botnets and SQL injection."
With potentially fewer overall enterprise targets, cybercrime organizations could end up fighting over turf. "In general, cybercrime is nothing more than a new form of organized crime," the FBI's Mott says. "You may see more online cybercrime 'violence.' DDoS attacks may go up."
Showing posts with label global financial crisis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label global financial crisis. Show all posts
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Dollar and yen benefit in crisis
Dollar and yen benefit in crisis
Tim Bowler
Oct 27, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7693020.stm
The US dollar and the Japanese yen are emerging as winning currencies in the global financial crisis.
Both are considered safe havens because their banks have lent less than banks in other countries to emerging markets. In contrast, the main currency losers have been the euro and the British pound.
Investors had been using dollar-denominated loans to invest elsewhere, but as the crisis has worsened cash-strapped banks and lenders have been calling in these loans, which has resulted in a scramble for dollars to pay them off.
The yen has gained from the ending of the "carry trade", where currency investors sought to take advantage of the difference in interest rates between Japan - where rates have been traditionally low - and other countries where rates were higher.
The pound has come in for a hammering given the British economy's vulnerability to the financial crisis and expectations of further UK interest rate cuts.
Meanwhile the euro is falling in value because of worries about Europe's exposure to emerging markets - particularly in eastern European countries.
RISING DOLLAR
The dollar has emerged as one of the main winners in the financial crisis.
As credit has dried up, banks have started to call in loans, which has meant borrowers having to buy up dollars to repay loans they owe in the currency.
This all of which means the price of the dollar is set to continue rising.
It is possible that the prospect of falling US interest rates may offset some of this demand for the dollar, as the US already has the lowest interest rates of any G7 industrialised country except Japan.
Another potential limit on the dollar's rise, may be the flood of debt the US government will sell to finance its budget deficit and bank bailouts. However, most currency traders expect the dollar to continue to strengthen over coming months.
SOARING YEN
The Japanese yen has been the other main beneficiary, and against the US dollar it has risen towards a 13-year high - despite the dollar's strength.
This is largely down to the virtual ending of the yen "carry trade" where investors had sought to take advantage of the difference in countries' interest rates.
The shares of top Japanese exporters like Toyota and Sony have been hit hard - despite reports Japan's government is considering a massive capital injection into struggling banks in a bid to calm jittery financial markets.
Mounting concerns about the surging yen have the G7 group of leading industrial nations to issue a statement warning about "recent excessive volatility".
WEAKENING POUND
In the UK, the pound has continued to fall sharply against the dollar, battered by fears of a recession and predictions that the Bank of England may be ready to slash interest rates further.
The Bank of England cut interest rates on 22 October to 4.5% and most economists expect it will be forced to cut interest rates again in an attempt to stave off a prolonged and painful recession.
On Friday, figures showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in 16 years, contracting by 0.5% in the third quarter, intensifying fears about the depth of recession the country could be facing.
The pound's steep falls have led some currency experts to forecast that it could fall below the $1.50 level.
FALLING EURO
The euro is under pressure on two counts - on worries about European banks' exposure to investments in emerging markets and on expectations that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates.
It has now fallen to its lowest level against the dollar in over two years.
European banks have lent heavily to crisis-stricken eastern European countries such as Ukraine, Hungary and Belarus. Ukraine and Hungary have both turned to the International Monetary Fund for help, and more countries are expected to follow.
Any damage to the European banking system would worsen the financial losses that have forced governments to put up about 1.7 trillion euros in guarantees and other aid.
The euro's weakness is an almost complete reversal of the situation in July, when the 15-country currency hit a lifetime high of $1.6038 - to the dismay of politicians across the continent who then worried that the high value of the currency would hit European exports.
Tim Bowler
Oct 27, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7693020.stm
The US dollar and the Japanese yen are emerging as winning currencies in the global financial crisis.
Both are considered safe havens because their banks have lent less than banks in other countries to emerging markets. In contrast, the main currency losers have been the euro and the British pound.
Investors had been using dollar-denominated loans to invest elsewhere, but as the crisis has worsened cash-strapped banks and lenders have been calling in these loans, which has resulted in a scramble for dollars to pay them off.
The yen has gained from the ending of the "carry trade", where currency investors sought to take advantage of the difference in interest rates between Japan - where rates have been traditionally low - and other countries where rates were higher.
The pound has come in for a hammering given the British economy's vulnerability to the financial crisis and expectations of further UK interest rate cuts.
Meanwhile the euro is falling in value because of worries about Europe's exposure to emerging markets - particularly in eastern European countries.
RISING DOLLAR
The dollar has emerged as one of the main winners in the financial crisis.
As credit has dried up, banks have started to call in loans, which has meant borrowers having to buy up dollars to repay loans they owe in the currency.
This all of which means the price of the dollar is set to continue rising.
It is possible that the prospect of falling US interest rates may offset some of this demand for the dollar, as the US already has the lowest interest rates of any G7 industrialised country except Japan.
Another potential limit on the dollar's rise, may be the flood of debt the US government will sell to finance its budget deficit and bank bailouts. However, most currency traders expect the dollar to continue to strengthen over coming months.
SOARING YEN
The Japanese yen has been the other main beneficiary, and against the US dollar it has risen towards a 13-year high - despite the dollar's strength.
This is largely down to the virtual ending of the yen "carry trade" where investors had sought to take advantage of the difference in countries' interest rates.
The shares of top Japanese exporters like Toyota and Sony have been hit hard - despite reports Japan's government is considering a massive capital injection into struggling banks in a bid to calm jittery financial markets.
Mounting concerns about the surging yen have the G7 group of leading industrial nations to issue a statement warning about "recent excessive volatility".
WEAKENING POUND
In the UK, the pound has continued to fall sharply against the dollar, battered by fears of a recession and predictions that the Bank of England may be ready to slash interest rates further.
The Bank of England cut interest rates on 22 October to 4.5% and most economists expect it will be forced to cut interest rates again in an attempt to stave off a prolonged and painful recession.
On Friday, figures showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in 16 years, contracting by 0.5% in the third quarter, intensifying fears about the depth of recession the country could be facing.
The pound's steep falls have led some currency experts to forecast that it could fall below the $1.50 level.
FALLING EURO
The euro is under pressure on two counts - on worries about European banks' exposure to investments in emerging markets and on expectations that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates.
It has now fallen to its lowest level against the dollar in over two years.
European banks have lent heavily to crisis-stricken eastern European countries such as Ukraine, Hungary and Belarus. Ukraine and Hungary have both turned to the International Monetary Fund for help, and more countries are expected to follow.
Any damage to the European banking system would worsen the financial losses that have forced governments to put up about 1.7 trillion euros in guarantees and other aid.
The euro's weakness is an almost complete reversal of the situation in July, when the 15-country currency hit a lifetime high of $1.6038 - to the dismay of politicians across the continent who then worried that the high value of the currency would hit European exports.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
FTSE 100 heads for sharpest fall since 1987
FTSE 100 heads for sharpest fall since 1987
Graham Ruddick and Malcolm Moore
Oct 07, 2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/3146097/
FTSE-100-heads-for-sharpest-fall-since-1987.html
The FTSE 100 tumbled more than 6pc and is heading for its worst day since 1987 as the global financial crisis deepens.
The UK's index of leading shares dropped more than 300 points shortly after the open and continued falling during a tumultuous day's trading. By 3:30pm in London the index was off 335 points, or 6.7pc. It has not fallen more in a day since October 1987.
Shares in HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Lloyds TSB and HSBC all registered sharp falls.
The intensity of the banking crisis that has spread from America to Europe's shores also rattled investors on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled through the 10,000 mark for the first time in four years and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was also lower.
Miners added to the pain for investors after investment bank UBS warned earnings in the mining sector could fall 46pc this year and warned commodity prices could drop another 25pc as the global economy slows.
The whole sector tumbled, with Kazakhmys and Eurasian Natural Resources leading the fallers.
In Europe, stock markets in Germany, France, Italy and Spain were also down between 4pc and 5pc, while Russian stocks tumbled 12pc as the rouble-denominated Micex index slumped to its lowest level since October 2005.
Mike Lenhoff, the chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin, said the markets needed to see leadership from politicians around the world in tackling the crisis.
In another turbulent day, on the foreign-exchange markets, sterling and the euro weakened against the dollar and oil slid to $86.18 as fears of a global slowdown mount.
Earlier in Japan, the Nikkei Exchange was down 322.35 points, or 2.95pc, in the early afternoon at 10,615.79. The benchmark Shanghai composite index lost 109.12 points, or 4.76pc, to 2184.68.
A similar picture emerged across India, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taipei and Australia as worries spread that Asia may be hit harder than many analysts initially thought.
"It's becoming increasingly evident that the fallout of the banking crisis is rapidly spreading around the world. It is clear Asia will not escape unscathed," said Timothy Bond, Merrill Lynch's chief Asia economist.
Simon Denham of Capital Spreads warned that the increasing trend across Europe of guaranteeing depositors savings, as seen by the Irish, Greek, Danish and possibly the German governments, could have serious consequences.
"If we effectively nationalize all our banks in Europe then what is that going to do in terms of growth?" he said. "If any loan or mortgage that anyone takes out is effectively approved by the government it's not good. People talk about the lost decade in Japan and we could say that money is going to be difficult to come by for a good few years here.
Graham Ruddick and Malcolm Moore
Oct 07, 2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/3146097/
FTSE-100-heads-for-sharpest-fall-since-1987.html
The FTSE 100 tumbled more than 6pc and is heading for its worst day since 1987 as the global financial crisis deepens.
The UK's index of leading shares dropped more than 300 points shortly after the open and continued falling during a tumultuous day's trading. By 3:30pm in London the index was off 335 points, or 6.7pc. It has not fallen more in a day since October 1987.
Shares in HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Lloyds TSB and HSBC all registered sharp falls.
The intensity of the banking crisis that has spread from America to Europe's shores also rattled investors on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled through the 10,000 mark for the first time in four years and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was also lower.
Miners added to the pain for investors after investment bank UBS warned earnings in the mining sector could fall 46pc this year and warned commodity prices could drop another 25pc as the global economy slows.
The whole sector tumbled, with Kazakhmys and Eurasian Natural Resources leading the fallers.
In Europe, stock markets in Germany, France, Italy and Spain were also down between 4pc and 5pc, while Russian stocks tumbled 12pc as the rouble-denominated Micex index slumped to its lowest level since October 2005.
Mike Lenhoff, the chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin, said the markets needed to see leadership from politicians around the world in tackling the crisis.
In another turbulent day, on the foreign-exchange markets, sterling and the euro weakened against the dollar and oil slid to $86.18 as fears of a global slowdown mount.
Earlier in Japan, the Nikkei Exchange was down 322.35 points, or 2.95pc, in the early afternoon at 10,615.79. The benchmark Shanghai composite index lost 109.12 points, or 4.76pc, to 2184.68.
A similar picture emerged across India, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taipei and Australia as worries spread that Asia may be hit harder than many analysts initially thought.
"It's becoming increasingly evident that the fallout of the banking crisis is rapidly spreading around the world. It is clear Asia will not escape unscathed," said Timothy Bond, Merrill Lynch's chief Asia economist.
Simon Denham of Capital Spreads warned that the increasing trend across Europe of guaranteeing depositors savings, as seen by the Irish, Greek, Danish and possibly the German governments, could have serious consequences.
"If we effectively nationalize all our banks in Europe then what is that going to do in terms of growth?" he said. "If any loan or mortgage that anyone takes out is effectively approved by the government it's not good. People talk about the lost decade in Japan and we could say that money is going to be difficult to come by for a good few years here.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Loose Money And the Roots Of the Crisis
Loose Money And the Roots Of the Crisis
Judy Shelton
Sep 30, 2008
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122273029076687929.html
The world is not ending. Despite the wrenching turmoil in global financial markets and morbid allusions to the death throes of capitalism, it ain't over.
But the whimpering is real, and justified, because it hurts to have your world come crashing down. And global financial markets are definitely crashing, even when the impact is momentarily softened through massive injections of artificial money -- "artificial" because the fiat money does not represent a store of genuine value but rather an airy government claim to future wealth yet to be created.
It is the money that is broken.
Mr. Greenspan is also the man who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and whose honorary titles include Knight Commander of the British Empire and Commander of the French Legion d'honneur.
So how does such an accomplished central banker turn out to be a monetary doofus?
Think of it: Nothing is more vital to capitalism than capital, the financial seed corn dedicated to next year's crop. Yet we, believers in free markets, allow the price of capital, i.e., the interest rate on loanable funds, to be fixed by a central committee in accordance with government objectives.
Whatever well-intentioned reasons existed in 1913 for creating the Federal Reserve -- to provide an elastic currency to soften the blow of economic contractions caused by "irrational exuberance" (and that will never be conquered, so long as humans have aspirations) -- one would be hard-pressed to say that the financial fallout from this latest money meltdown will have less damaging consequences for the average person than would have been incurred under a gold standard.
The entire world has been affected by the breakdown of the U.S. financial system, thanks to the globalization of investment capital. But the free flow of capital -- along with free trade -- is a good thing, the best path to global prosperity. The problem is that the role of the dollar as the world's primary reserve currency has been called into serious question, both by allies and adversaries.
Judy Shelton
Sep 30, 2008
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122273029076687929.html
The world is not ending. Despite the wrenching turmoil in global financial markets and morbid allusions to the death throes of capitalism, it ain't over.
But the whimpering is real, and justified, because it hurts to have your world come crashing down. And global financial markets are definitely crashing, even when the impact is momentarily softened through massive injections of artificial money -- "artificial" because the fiat money does not represent a store of genuine value but rather an airy government claim to future wealth yet to be created.
It is the money that is broken.
Mr. Greenspan is also the man who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and whose honorary titles include Knight Commander of the British Empire and Commander of the French Legion d'honneur.
So how does such an accomplished central banker turn out to be a monetary doofus?
Think of it: Nothing is more vital to capitalism than capital, the financial seed corn dedicated to next year's crop. Yet we, believers in free markets, allow the price of capital, i.e., the interest rate on loanable funds, to be fixed by a central committee in accordance with government objectives.
Whatever well-intentioned reasons existed in 1913 for creating the Federal Reserve -- to provide an elastic currency to soften the blow of economic contractions caused by "irrational exuberance" (and that will never be conquered, so long as humans have aspirations) -- one would be hard-pressed to say that the financial fallout from this latest money meltdown will have less damaging consequences for the average person than would have been incurred under a gold standard.
The entire world has been affected by the breakdown of the U.S. financial system, thanks to the globalization of investment capital. But the free flow of capital -- along with free trade -- is a good thing, the best path to global prosperity. The problem is that the role of the dollar as the world's primary reserve currency has been called into serious question, both by allies and adversaries.
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