Cyber-Attacks - Trends, Patterns and Security Countermeasures

Technology is rapidly evolving in a world driven by social networks, online transactions, cloud computing, and automated processes. But with the technological evolution comes the progress of cybercrime, which continually develops new attack types, tools and techniques that allow attackers to penetrate more complex or well-controlled environments, and produce increased damage and even remain untraceable. The present article aims to get an overview of the cyber-crime as it is defined and revealed by specialized literature, international legislation and historical facts, and perform an analysis of attacks reported all around the world over the last three years in order to determine patterns and trends in cyber-crime. Based on the results of the analysis, the article presents countermeasures that companies may undertake in order to ensure improved security that would support in defending their business from attackers from an information security perspective. (C) 2015 Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.