The year 2010 promises to be an action packed year in cyberspace. With the giants of the Internet reporting an unprecedented breach in their networks, it is not farfetched to presume that the next world war could be fought in cyber space!

Attacks are now exceedingly covert, complex and targeting specific organizations and no million dollar protective blanket of security product/infrastructure can completely secure your machine. The only weapon you have is knowledge.

Here are some primary threats faced by Internet users today:

1. Malware
Whether it is an e-mail attachment or a malicious link, malware remains the biggest threat to any organization. In 2009, the FBI reported that for the first time ever, revenue from cyber crime exceeded drug trafficking. It estimated at taking in more than one trillion dollars as annual profit last year.

2. The Insider
After the slowdown in the global economy, many disgruntled employees turned to exploiting their companies or previous employers. Although completely mitigating the threat from the disgruntled insider still remains a farfetched possibility, implementation of robust policies and procedures can help reduce their activities to a fraction of their intended values.

3. Security Testing Methodology
Regular updates and backups can no longer ensure a robust information security architecture. Organizations need to adopt a personalized approach and tailor security frameworks to suit their business needs.

4. Careless Employees
A single mistake by an unaware or untrained employee can have dire consequences for an organization. These employees may be socially engineered by an attacker to carry out simple and seemingly mundane tasks, which could result in critical data leakage, financial / reputational losses or stall the business functionality of the company.  

5. Social Engineering
Most malware comes from e-mails, attachments, malicious websites or malicious applications that need some degree of user interaction. Social engineering continues to be the most popular way by which an end user is tricked into compromising critical data.