Black Energy is a program available online for about $40 with a $700 upgrade option.  It can be purchased by anyone with online access and used to steal passwords, attack online banking, as well as launch a Denial of Service attacks.

Today’s Wall Street Journal front page article shares one attack, reportedly on Citigroup – while they deny it, having your name on the front page of a paper of this caliber makes for unrecoverable brand damage.  Some key sound bites should be noted as you’re talking with prospects in the coming months.

• Towards the end of this article the bank loses over 1 million dollars before they detect and respond.
• The attack comes through bot type technology, a stealth way of taking over one’s computer.  This agent apparently came in through an infected computer – this is normal.
• The article notes that, when one bank is infected, hackers can take over other banks by following connections between banks.
• This same technology was used in cyber warfare attacks last year, shutting down Georgian government and financial sites.
• Experts are concerned that hackers may not stop at stealing money, but may also damage bank systems and create major disruptions. (This would be bad).
• And my favorite sound bite; Citygroup is 27% Government Owned…

Security continues to be a great lead in for high level discussions – this coming year will be no different.