Each year, the day job over at PRI's The World sends me on the hunt of a "the-year-that-was" round-up of global cybercrime. I generally make it a point to check in with some smart people to get a read on this. One person I always get on the line is Graham Cluley, technology consultant at the British anti-virus firm Sophos. As time goes by, the sheer numbers of viruses, worms and trojan horses that are spewed out on a yearly basis never ceases to astound me. This year, Cluley told me, Sophos estimates that 40,000 new viruses and trojan horses are sent out every day for the Windows platform alone. That's 40,000 a day, folks. It's enough to make you long for the good old days when a computer virus seemed as tame as this LOLkitty here. You know, when the viruses were created by a kid in his basement, took over your screen and just turned it into a picture of a skull and crossbones. Annoying? Yes. Potentially lethal to your bank account or credit rating? Not really. But now, cybercrime is organized, and the criminals are taking advantage of social networking and mobile devices in their latest attempt to steal your personal information, your bank information, or to turn your own computer into a spam-spewing zombie. As always, Cluley told me, it's a cat and mouse game...and in 2009, there are more mice than ever before:
A Converation with Graham Cluley of Sophos (9:15)
(Photo courtesy of icanhazcheeseburger....)
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