SYDNEY, 20 MAY 2009 - Organised cyber crime gangs are benefiting from hundreds of thousands of lay-offs in the global information technology industry as desperate, unemployed workers turn to nefarious activities to earn a crust.
Renowned Russian cyber crime fighter Eugene Kaspersky, chief executive of computer security firm Kaspersky Lab, said organised internet crooks were also becoming more brazen in their efforts to procure talent.
In one instance, criminals had gone so far as to hand out recruitment pamphlets on the London Underground.
Mr Kaspersky said crime gangs were broadly targeting people down on their luck for illegal tasks, but added that it was particularly worrying that large numbers of IT workers were on the breadline following mass lay-offs earlier this year.
"Because many IT people are well-educated and professional, bringing more such people into the cyber crime zone is really dangerous," he said.
Mr Kaspersky said online crime, including "phishing scams", malware and Trojan attacks, was likely to remain recession proof, adding to the lure for legions of workers rendered unemployed in the financial crisis.
He also added his voice to concerns that users of social networks were leaving themselves open to attacks because they were too trusting of MySpace and Facebook-style environments, much as many people were too trusting of email several years ago.
According to Kaspersky Lab, more than 80 per cent of all internet users will have contact with a social networking site, such as MySpace, Facebook or Twitter, during 2009, exposing them to attacks designed to snaffle passwords and other protected information.
