Someone recently asked me what my greatest worry is when it comes to cybercrime and identity theft. The cynical voice inside me wanted to scream “a complete end to all the attacks.” (Unfortunately, that would put me out of business!) The question, however, started me thinking about how in just the first few months of this year alone, the statistics on ID theft are among the worst ever. For example …

One recent report estimated that in just the first two months of 2007 year, phishing email attacks grew by 50% and malware attacks increased by a staggering 200%.

Another report identified 23,864 new malware threats in the first three months of this year. That’s nearly three times the number of viruses, spyware, Trojans and other malicious programs discovered last year during the same period!

One thing is certain: today’s identity thieves are taking the attack directly into your home with business-like schemes that target computer users like you. Internet identity theft crime has many faces: online scams, phishing emails, malware and hacking attacks, even assassination threats via email. </h2>

One scamming technique uses your own online searches against you.  How?  By buying ads on Google, ID thieves are able to steer web surfers to bogus web sites that are designed to grab personal information. In fact, security researchers recently found that if you Google the words “betterbusinessbureau,” you have a good chance of ending up on a Russian hacking site set up by ID thieves who simply bought similarly named links.

An estimated 5,000 new information-stealing web pages are discovered each day.  Much of the data that’s swiped from these web sites now ends up in large databases of stolen information called “Mother Ships.” These illegal data-storehouses are usually located in Russia or China, and each database can contain the hijacked personal information of more than 200,000 identity theft victims!

”Script kiddies” are yet another threat to worry about. These resourceful young hackers are “the new breed” of Internet identity thieves. Script kiddies may not have any real hardcore hacking skills, but they still manage to create havoc and steal private information from unsuspecting computer users.

One recent “kiddy” attack targeted AOL customer accounts.  Police arrested a 17-year-old, described as “a special education student with behavioral problems,” who threw “cyber tantrum” when AOL cancelled his online accounts.

He started by breaking into AOL servers where he was able to access customer accounts, billing information and credit card information; infect their computers with a data-stealing program; break into the accounts of AOL customer support staff; and just for some added fun, launched several phishing email attacks against AOL employees. I guess its time for another security review!

Undetectable Trojans which carry viruses and other dangerous computer code are also on the rise. One recently discovered data-stealing malware Trojan called Gozi or Banksniff evaded almost every security and anti virus program for more than 5 months and infected roughly 30,000 computers per month! 

Assassination threat scams are frightening and costly!  The FBI recently received more than 100 complaints from mostly wealthy consumers. Those receiving online taunts, were threatened with assassination unless they paid a fee of up to $40,000. The e-mail scam threats seemed real because the senders offered plenty of personal information about the recipient. In today’s world, there are few things scarier than a stranger who knows intimate details about you.

Security experts expect to see a rise in variations of these e-mail threats via  scams against consumers. This will perhaps extort users into revealing Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers or passwords, to avoid attacks on them or members of their family.

And with most banks offering zero liability for funds stolen from customer accounts it can be increasingly tempting for customers to comply with these extortion demands knowing they won’t lose a dime.

So what is my biggest worry about Internet Identity theft? Probably that banks and credit card companies will no longer be able to afford zero liability, and you and I will be left to carry the entire cost of the inevitable.