UK leaps up hacking league table

by Gill Montia

Story link: UK leaps up hacking league table

NCC Group has released its latest Origin of Hacks report, showing the main countries from which global computer hacking originated during the first three months of the year.

Research from the IT assurance provider reveals that the UK has entered the top ten for the first time, while the proportion of worldwide hacks coming from Russia and the Netherlands has also leapt.

The UK has shifted eight places up the table to occupy 7th place, having been responsible for 2.4% (Q4 2011: 1.2%) of the world’s hacking attempts over the last quarter.

Russia has also shown a large increase, with over 12% of global hacks originating from the country, compared to just 3.5% in the previous findings.

The leap has cemented the country’s position in 3rd place, behind the US and China.

The first quarter of 2012 also saw a significant rise in hacks from the Netherlands, up from 3.1% to over 11%, with the country moving into 4th place in the hacking chart.

Overall, the top ten has changed a great deal over just three months, with Italy, France and India all dropping out of the top ten.

Taking their places are Ukraine in 5th place, South Korea in 9th place and the UK.

NCC’s chief executive, Rob Cotton, comments: “Cyber crime is perpetually evolving – the dramatic increase of hacks from certain countries over a three month period just goes to show the fluidity and quick-changing nature of the issue.”

He adds: “Because cyber crime develops and alters on a daily basis, so too must the counter-measures.”

NCC’s research is based on intrusion detected logs monitored by DSHield, a cooperative network security community based in the US.