by Jennifer Schlesinger
Cybercrime costs the global economy $445 billion a year, according to Center for Strategic and International Studies. The face behind those costly attacks is changing.
According to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, 80 percent of cyberattacks is committed by highly organized gangs. On this new battlefield, IBM is trying to arm information security professionals with the weapons they need to repel these coordinated attacks.
"It's not just a scenario of a bored teenager deciding to show off to his or her girlfriend. In many cases, these are organized gangs of thieves," Caleb Barlow, IBM's vice president of mobile management and security, told CNBC in an interview.
Part of cybercriminals' organization includes sharing information to make their attacks more effective, Barlow said. "On the dark side of the Internet, one of the things we see is that they are collaborating to share tools, and to share ideas, and ... data on how to attack," he said.
Technology professionals have struggled to keep pace with the increasing sophistication of cyberattacks. Over 50 percent of cybersecurity professionals say they do not share information about potential breaches with industry groups, according to a survey conducted jointly by vArmour, a cybersecurity company, and consulting group Blue Lava.
Barlow largely agreed with those findings. "The defenders honestly aren't as well organized," he said.
Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102595027