26th October 2009 - The old security chestnut of SQL injection weaknesses may well be the cause for the weekend high-profile hacking of the Guardian Jobs Web site, says Imperva, the data security specialist.

Amichai Shulman, Imperva's chief technology officer, said that the most eye-catching feature of the site hack is the use of the phrase `sophisticated and deliberate attack.'

"Our experience shows that `sophisticated attack' is usually a pseudonym for `SQL Injection', although I must admit that an initial glimpse into the site hints that it may actually be a more sophisticated hack than the usual," he said.

Farnborough, United Kingdom –26th October 2009 - As news of the Guardian web site hack broke on Sunday, Finjan, the business Internet security specialist, said that identity information on consumers and companies continues to be a prime target for criminal hackers.

"As we identified back in May of last year (http://preview.tinyurl.com/ykml7ef) - when our researchers discovered a Crimeserver containing more than 1.4 gigs of data on individual and business credentials - data that can be assembled for user in identity theft kits has been right up there on cybercriminals shopping lists for some time," said Yuval Ben Itzhak, Finjan's chief technology officer.

 A report commissioned by a US Congressional advisory panel monitoring the security implications of trading with China has warned that China has started spying on the US government and major companies.

And, says Finjan, the business Internet security specialist, now is the time for companies to start beefing up their IT security defences to stop them falling victim to what appears to be a rash of impending cyber-espionage from the Far East.

" Many cyber attacks and hacker incursions originated from China have been implicated in  into Western IT systems in recent years. Obviously it's hard to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the government there is involved in these attacks, however according to the report it's quite likely that government is active in this domain," said Yuval-Ben Itzhak, Finjan's chief technology officer.

22nd October 2009 - The arrest of a former product engineer at Ford Motor Co. for stealing sensitive design documents worth millions of dollars is just one of many insider threats occurring on a regular basis nowadays, says Imperva, the data security specialist.

“As Personally Identifiable Information (PII), credit cards, and financial information become more commoditized on the black market, we’re going to start seeing more attacks focused on sensitive data that is considered intellectual property – such as Ford’s design documents. “ said Brian Contos, Chief Security Strategist at Imperva.

“Insiders abound regardless of the state of the economy, however, in difficult economic times the number of insider attacks is known to increase. Malicious insider actions are often triggered by some type of crisis – personal, financial, or professional” he added.