'Cyberattacks likely to escalate this year'

London, Jan 15 (ANI): Cyberattacks are likely to escalate this year and continue to affect corporations and governments, while reportedly putting innocent consumers at risk.

That follows a surge of so-called hacktivist attacks in 2011 instigated by the loose-knit Anonymous and LulzSec hacking groups, security experts and technologists said.

Hacktivists reportedly disrupted scores of websites, pilfered massive troves of data - and compared notes.

"They are learning from each other. Corporations and governments need to recognize (more) break-ins are inevitable," ABC News quoted Kris Harms, principal consultant of network security firm Mandiant, as saying.

The unprecedented spike in politically motivated cyberintrusions was capped by Anonymous' breach of Strategic Forecasting's website over the holidays.

Anonymous demanded a gourmet Christmas dinner for Bradley Manning, the imprisoned U.S. Army soldier accused of leaking U.S. Embassy communiques to the whistleblower website, WikiLeaks. It was a little more than a year ago when Anonymous temporarily crippled the websites of Visa, MasterCard, Paypal and others in retaliation for those companies refusing to process payments from WikiLeaks, the paper said.

By posting stolen information as proof of an attack, hacktivists make such data readily accessible, at no cost, to ID thieves, Identity Finder CEO Todd Feinman said.

"Collateral damage to average consumers has become a very big problem. In-your-face arrogance, backed up by stunning success, made Anonymous and Lulzsec big news stories all year long," Josh Shaul, chief technology officer at Application Security, said.

"Recruits are lining up, and hackers are teaching classes to get more people in on the action," he added. (ANI)