New Research Shows Cyber Criminals Moving Operations to Canada

SAN DIEGO, May 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cyber criminals are on the move again, and Canada is the preferred relocation haven. Websense, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBSN) recently conducted an analysis of Canada's cyber security risk profile, and all trends pointed to Canada as the new launch pad for cyber criminals.

IP addresses in China and Eastern Europe are highly scrutinized and undergoing intense evaluation. Hackers react by moving their networks to countries like Canada that have cleaner cyber reputations.

News Facts

• 319% jump in hosted phishing sites - Canada saw a huge increase in the number of servers hosting phishing sites, jumping 319 percent in the last year. This tremendous increase over the last 12 months is second only to Egypt in terms of the growth of sites hosting phishing. Below is the breakdown:

• 53% increase in bot networks – Cyber criminals are moving their command and control centers to safer grounds. In the past eight months, Canada saw a 53 percent increase in bot networks. Canada is the only country that showed an increase in bot networks over the last eight months, when compared to the countries above.
• Overall increase in cyber crime – In 2010 Canada was #13 in the world for hosting cyber crime, and in 2011 Canada jumped to #6. Below is the breakdown:

Tips for Protecting Businesses

• Protect outbound and inbound channels - In today's borderless enterprise, it's not enough to defend against real-time threats coming from outside your perimeter (a quaint concept in today's mobile world). An effective solution must prevent modern malware and provide visibility and control of corporate information both coming in and going out of an organization. Implement a technology that can inspect and control content over the Web and email, your two primary communication channels. According to Websense research, data loss via the Web is four times more likely than email.
• Understand what data is important to you and how you want to protect it - Understand what is important for your business, and what damage it would cause if it went missing. Implement an effective DLP (data loss prevention) solution, so even if the bad guys get in, that doesn't mean they can walk out with your data.
• Make sure your enterprise is content-aware and content-secure - Blended and data-stealing attacks are on the rise. Content security is crucial for defending against modern threats, which often bypass traditional perimeter and endpoint security. Enterprises today need a security solution that can identify, classify, and understand content on the fly – wherever it travels. This helps protect it from attack, theft, and misuse.  

Quote(s):

"More malicious content is being hosted in Canada than ever before," said Patrik Runald, senior manager of Security Research, Websense. "Cyber criminals are taking advantage of Canada's clean cyber reputation, and moving shop. We're seeing all time highs for both hosted phishing sites and bot networks. It is important for Canadian citizens to be extra vigilant on the Internet, taking extra precautions when clicking on links."

"Cyber crime in Canada is increasing," said Fiaaz Walji, Canadian country manager for Websense. "Businesses today need to be able to defend against this new assault. A solution that provides content security and combines email, Web, and DLP security is key to fending off these modern threats, which often bypass traditional perimeter and endpoint security."

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Websense Links:

Insights Blog: See the recent Websense research into Canada's cyber security risk profile, and read more expert content security commentary.

Websense Security Labs Blog: Read about today's latest security threats.

Facebook: "Like" Websense.

Twitter: Follow @Websense.

To learn more about Websense business solutions for using the social Web safely, visit Websense.com.

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About Websense:

Websense, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBSN), a global leader in unified Web security, email security, and data loss prevention (DLP) solutions, delivers the best content security for modern threats at the lowest total cost of ownership to tens of thousands of enterprise, mid-market and small organizations around the world. Distributed through a global network of channel partners and delivered as software, appliance and Security-as-a-Service (SaaS), Websense content security solutions help organizations leverage Web 2.0 and cloud communication, collaboration, and social media while protecting from advanced persistent threats, preventing the loss of confidential information and enforcing Internet use and security policies. Websense is headquartered in San Diego, California with offices around the world. For more information, visit www.websense.com.

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Contact:
Hally Wax
Websense
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[email protected]

SOURCE Websense, Inc.