思科年度報告: 去年網絡攻擊增加14%

Cyber attacks rose 14 per cent last year, as online criminals targeted intellectual property-rich industries such as pharmaceuticals, mining and electronics, according to a report by Cisco.

思科(Cisco)一份報告稱，網絡攻擊數量去年上升了14%，製藥、礦業和電子工業等知識產權密集的行業成爲網絡罪犯的目標。

Vulnerabilities in computer systems and the threat from hackers reached the highest level since 2000, when the technology company launched its annual security report.

這家技術公司發佈年度安全報告之際，計算機系統漏洞及黑客威脅達到2000年以來的最高水平。

Cisco said there had been “unprecedented growth” in advanced attacks, with every large company it monitored becoming a target for malicious traffic.

思科表示，技術含量較高的攻擊出現了“前所未有的增長”。思科監測的每家大型公司都成爲惡意流量攻擊的目標。

John Stewart, senior vice-president and chief security officer, said the report painted a grim picture of the state of cyber security.

思科副總裁兼首席安全官約翰•斯圖爾特(John Stewart)說，這份報告描繪了網絡安全現狀的一幅悲觀圖景。

But, he added, there was hope to restore trust by trying to understand hackers. “To truly protect against all of these possible attacks, defenders must understand the attackers, their motivations and their methods – before, during and aFTer an attack.”

但他補充道，通過試圖瞭解黑客，有望恢復信心。“爲了真正防禦所有這些可能的攻擊，防禦者必須瞭解攻擊者，掌握他們的動機和手段——在攻擊開始前、進行中和結束後。”

Pharmaceuticals, chemicals, agriculture, mining and electronics all saw increases in the malware targeted at them of more than 600 per cent, while attempts to breach security in the energy, oil and gas industries rose more than 400 per cent.

製藥、化工、農業、礦業和電子工業受到的惡意軟件攻擊均增加逾600%。同時，針對能源和油氣行業的攻擊增加400%以上。

Attempts to hack retailers and wholesalers – in the public eye after Target lost data from more than 70m customers in an attack – rose more than 100 per cent. The attempts may not have led to breaches, depending on the protections in place.

針對零售商和批發商的攻擊增加逾100%。美國零售商塔吉特(Target)在一次攻擊中丟失7000餘萬用戶數據的消息曝光後，此類攻擊引起公衆關注。不過，取決於採取的保護措施，有些攻擊可能沒有突破防線。

Cyber criminals are increasingly looking for intellectual property they can either sell on the black market or use to inform decisions about competing products or plans.

網絡罪犯對尋找知識產權越來越感興趣，這些機密要麼可在黑市上出售，要麼可用作競爭產品或計劃的決策依據。

Levi Gundert, a threat researcher who worked on the Cisco report, said the attacks could be “criminals” or “nation states”.

參與撰寫報告的威脅研究員萊維•貢德特(Levi Gundert)說，實施攻擊的可能是“罪犯”，也可能是“國家”。

“You almost need to have the Economist or the FT in hand while looking at some of these numbers – they vertically correspond to geopolitical events,” he said.

他說：“你在看報告中的一些數字時，手裏幾乎需要一份《經濟學人》或英國《金融時報》，因爲這些數字直接對應着某些地緣政治事件。”