CAIRO: Worms, spyware, zombie networks - the jargon alone is jarring. For many online firms, the untamed reaches of internet that lie outside their firewalled, password-shielded havens can prove to be fearsome places. So as firms in Egypt and other developing nations rush to connect, it is only natural that network security companies - often acting as the hired vanguard of online firms - should rush in too. In the internet s early days, web criminals, who often employ collections of anonymous and automated software robots known as botnets, began hacking for fun and glory, said Kaspersky Lab virus analyst Vitaly Kamluk during a technology conference hosted by the International Data Corporation Monday. Eventually, however, crime groups became more sophisticated. They developed new weapons to sabotage personal enemies, advance political agendas, simply revel in their mayhem or, most commonly, siphon money or sensitive data from companies online. Ninety-nine percent of cases are motivated by money, Kamluk said. But there are political attacks, of course, he said. The most infamous of these include country-wide botnet assaults on the former Soviet bloc nations of Estonia and Georgia over the past half-decade. In all of these cases there were botnets used, Kamluk said. But to use the botnets, you need to spend money, you need to spend time. The costs can be prohibitive for purely political groups, he said, meaning financially-geared online pirates are often hired out like mercenaries. Today, many online crime groups have sophisticated, mafia-like structures. One Russian botnet base that was recently busted included a complex bureaucratic structure including many non-technical staff, Kamluk said. How much of this applies to the Middle East? There are definitely people listening to our stories [here], said Simon Leech, technical director for Middle Eastern and African markets at TippingPoint Technologies. Still, many of his firm s security products can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to install and run, he said. So TippingPoint has mostly catered to banks, ministries and other larger groups who have the income - and motive - to protect their networks. The level of IT in the average company is different [in Egypt], Leech said. You can see that walking down the streets. But that is changing. Less costly tools like TippingPoint s Network Access Control program, which authenticates access to a client s servers, can be a cheaper but still useful option, Leech said. As they become more tech-savvy, many companies here risk stepping into a web rife with relatively developed crime. But clients here are not naïve, according to Leech, and the growth of defense software markets proves it. Last year both Kaspersky and TippingPoint set up shop in Cairo through a network of partners and resellers.
