Internet spying 'largest threat in 2008'

Internet-based espionage is likely to pose the largest information security danger in 2008, the security software company McAfee has reported.

In a new report titled Virtual Criminology, the company said that the internet is increasingly being used by governments for spying and launching cyber attacks on rivals. The report also said that the new year would see an increase in attacks against e-banking functions.

Earlier this year, Estonia was targeted by a widespread cyber attack which shut down many essential functions for weeks. An unnamed Nato source told McAfee: "Traditional protective measures were not enough to protect against the attacks on Estonia's critical national infrastructure. "Botnets, unsurprisingly, were used but the complexity and coordination seen was new."

The attacks were organized and used "careful timing", the source said. And instead of being successfully shut down, the attacks stopped at a given juncture, the source added. For information on digital products and services visit Broadband National.