US Secret Service Insight: Cyber Threat Trends and Insider Risks

Both types of attack have increased in the past year, according to the 2010 Verizon Data Breach Investigations report in partnership with the US Secret Service. This is the first time private and commercial data has been combined in a data breach report, said Matthijs Van der Wel, head of the EMEA forensics team at Verizon Business. The data from the financial crime investigations from the Secret Service has enabled a broader and deeper perspective on cybercrime, he said.

"Most breaches are caused by external sources, but we now see a lot more cases that involve insiders combined with social engineering that we did not see in our previous data set," said Van der Wel.

The data also highlights an increased use of customised malware in smaller attacks to avoid detection by anti-virus and intrusion detection software, he said.