INFORMATION PRIME TARGET FOR MODERN DAY CRIMINALS

By Massita Ahmad

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 (Bernama) -- Information is the prime target for
malicious attacks and the booming underground economy, said Symantec Corp's
chief technology officer, Mark Bregman Tuesday.

Personal information, credit card numbers, malicious software are among the
useful tools for criminals as they obtain and use these information and sell
them for financial gains.

"This is happening all over the world and it is a big, billion dollar
business," he said to Bernama after a media luncheon and briefing - Looking
Ahead into 2009 -- here Tuesday.

Bregman noted that as only in summer, underground economy in the United
States churned some US$275 million worth of activities.

Symantec is a global leader in the provision of security, storage and
systems management solutions to help businesses and consumers secure and manage
their information.

"We monitor the underground economy by looking at the place where the
criminals sell information," he said.

Bregman said that the underground economic activities are broad-based and do
not only attack banks.

He cited a case which he described as "holding information (as)hostage".
In such a situation, a software can be downloaded into a person's laptop to
prevent the owner from getting access to their own information and the
information could be held for ransom, until money is paid, a "kind of
kidnapping", Bregman said.

With such trends, he said Symantec would not be holding back its investment
for research and development (R&D) this year despite the slowdown in economy.

"We will come up with new technologies and approaches to continue to solve
customers' critical problems in security, storage and system management, he
said.

"The corporation would continue to invest some 15 percent of its annual
revenue for R&D," said Bregman, who is also the executive vice president of
Symantec.

"We believe we would continue to help secure and manage the
information-driven enterprises against more risks at more points, with greater
efficiency, cost saving and confidence."

Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Symantec has operations in more than
40 countries.
- BERNAMA