Cybercrime on the rise

The FBI recently announced the arrest and prosecution of several cybercrime cases against individuals accused of defrauding banks, companies and consumers. It is part of an FBI probe called "Operation Bot Roast." And it is just the beginning of a crackdown into the compromise of two million PCs attacked by at least 10 individuals.

It's pretty scary when you look at the kind of cases being prosecuted. A 21-year-old student at the University of Pennsylvania was recently indicted for orchestrating attacks from a botnet of 50,000 PCs against various online chat networks. The scheme had a very far reach--the student was charged with working with an individual from New Zealand. Meanwhile, a 27-year-old Tacoma, Wash., resident pleaded guilty in September to maintaining a botnet of hundreds of thousands of compromised PCs. He rented them out to spammers and people who wanted to use the bot network to take websites offline.

There are plenty of others, too. This may sound a bit like Bonnie and Clyde or the Wild West, but the reality is these are now new types of crimes that did not exist a decade ago. It's important for every CIO to remember that your network is not just your own. You probably keep your door locked at night and park your car in a safe location. With these new kind of cybercrimes, it's important to remember that law enforcement may not know what is coming next until a successful attack has been launched. Will you be the next victim?

ALSO: For a look at what's coming down the road for CIOs, check out this week's special report on eDiscovery, a legal issue that involves preserving and keeping track of electronic documents, including email, in the event of a court order to turn the material over in a lawsuit.-Judi