Imperva warns of rise in Stuxnet hacking threats

State-sponsored hacking, man-in-the-browser and insider attacks are among the key threats facing organisations in 2011, according to research from Imperva.

The data security firm released its top security trend predictions today, warning that the likely proliferation of Stuxnet-like attacks means that companies must monitor traffic and set security controls across all organisational layers.

To reduce the threat from insider attacks, Imperva recommended tightening controls so that access to sensitive information is given only on a need-to-know basis, and to eliminate unnecessary privileges.

The sophistication of man-in-the-browser attacks is going to increase, meanwhile, forcing online service providers to invest in better protection such as strong device identification, client profiling, session flow tracking and site-to-client authentication.

Other trends noted by Imperva include the growing use of sophisticated smartphones in the enterprise, which could present challenges to IT departments as they struggle to include the devices in traditional data and application security practices.

"I anticipate that the threat landscape will evolve in many directions, making data security more challenging than ever," said Imperva chief technology officer.

"Additionally, hacker activity will consolidate into a relatively small number of stronger, more powerful and resourceful criminal organisations."

Finally, Imperva predicted that social networks will finally begin to take seriously threats such as cross-site scripting attacks by boosting application layer security, and rolling out stronger authentication and account control features.