e-Cop GCC Reports Rising Trend in Attacks
e-Cop’s Global Command Centres detected sharp increase in the number of security incidents in recent months.
SINGAPORE, September 07, 2008 - e-Cop, the leading managed risk and information security services provider reported that its network of Global Command Centres (GCC) detected an unusually high number of probes and attacks towards its APAC customer base beginning in the mid of second quarter and continues to escalate to present month, as seen in e-Cop’s latest e-Security index.
"We first spotted the alarming trend in May due to the sudden peak in the number of incoming attacks targeted at our clients’ networks and websites and as we continue to monitor succeeding months’ indices, we observed that the attacks are not letting up through the third quarter. Furthermore, from May to June the number of attacks originating from ASEAN region more than doubled, from 23.8% to 61.8% of the total incidents recorded by our GCC," said Mr. Benjamin Mah, General Manager of e-Cop Singapore.
At the forefront of info-security intelligence, e-Cop’s monthly publication reports the attack sources as well as the attack types, detailing the hacking tools and vulnerabilities exploited by hackers. On top of the monthly and quarterly indices, e-Cop also releases e-Breaking News, an early warning and threats notification to its clients, broadcasting the latest security exploits monitored by its GCC and advises preventive measures and resolutions.
"We started our 24x7 security monitoring when there were no other companies doing it in the region and since 2001 we have been publishing e-Security Index which tracks the trend of cyber attacks in the Asia Pacific region. This intelligence is gathered via our network of Global Command Centres and its relevance is in the fact that it is focused on the APAC region, whereas most reports in the market are either from US or Europe which does not significantly reflect the real trend in our region," said Mr. Marcus Low, Group CEO and President of e-Cop.
"It interesting and certainly worth our further investigation, that the rising trend in information security threats on our shores actually coincides with global events such as the Beijing Olympics - where cyber-criminals took advantage of clever social engineering tactics to spread malwares by sending bogus Beijing earthquake emails, and the Georgia cyberwar - where Georgian government was repeatedly hit by cyberattacks," added Benjamin.
Benjamin sums it up by saying that: "Several factors could have contributed to the higher than usual data. The technology that is working for us is also working against us. In Singapore, broadband penetration rate is over 80%, faster internet means increased efficiency but it also means faster virus and higher security risk. Singapore Government alone offers over 1,600 e-Services, added to that are the ever-increasing popularity of mobile devices for accessing internet – most everyone is using online services ranging from e-Banking transactions to McDelivery, but the end-users themselves are neither aware nor equipped to defend against spreading malwares. To combat the increasing complexity of threats, we continue to beef up our offerings for Professional Security Services, backed by our dedicated R&D to ensure continued technological advantage especially in the Network Security Reviews and Forensics."
e-Cop’s CESM technology recently bags the Infocomm Singapore Awards 2008 for Security category and its CyberWatch Centre (CWC) project garnered Merit award for e-Government category; the company was also voted 2008 Managed Security Service Provider of the Year
at Frost & Sullivan Malaysia Telecoms Awards. With its latest wins, e-Cop shows optimistic growth in terms of market share and continues to lead in technology innovation and highly relevant service offerings.
About e-Cop
e-Cop is the trusted partner for managed risk and information security services to business enterprises and governments. It offers a comprehensive suite of services to identify and deal effectively with threats and risks related to information security management. These services include Managed Security Services, Technology Consulting Services, and Professional Security Consulting Services.
Widely hailed as an innovative and leading information security industry bluechip, e-Cop operates and maintains several Security Operations Centres (SOC) worldwide. All of which are ISO/IEC 27001 certified and powered by its highly advanced, award-winning security event correlation technology developed internally by its R&D team.
e-Cop’s sedulous commitment to deliver a multi-pronged integrated suite of Professional Security Services and Technology Consultancy Services has earned itself numerous accolades as the industry’s leader. Its customers value the vision, leadership, and customised services and solutions that e-Cop brings to the table.
For more information, please visit www.e-Cop.net
FAQ on e-Cop’s e-Security Index
What is the Index based on? Index is built on a sample of more than 400+ network security devices/sensors that e-Cop monitors on behalf of customers across the entire region
How is the Index built? Monthly incident statistics received by all GCCs are firstly filtered, aggregated, and then normalised to an average number of incident received per average device/sensor on an average day in that specific month measured. An index measuring this normalised statistic is then built every month by pegging it to a base month (July 01).
What does the Index indicate? It indicates the general incident activity level in a period, approximates the threat level and helps us understand the fluctuation month to month through further analysis.
What is the volume of incidents that e-Cop has handled?
- Total of 101 million incidents received/handled in 2002
- Total of 238 million incidents received/handled in 2003
- Total of 555 million incidents received/handled in 2004
- Total of 962 million incidents received/handled in 2005
- Total of 1.06 billion incidents received/handled in 2006
- Total of 1.00 billion incidents received/handled in 2007