Anonymous' Attacks Will Decline In 2013, Says McAfee Labs

In McAfee Lab's latest annual report, it details how it views the security of the Internet throughout 2013. Perhaps surprisingly, the company says to expect a decline in attacks from Anonymous, with a possibility of a few big attacks as it peters out into relative obscurity. In its place will be more centralized, targeted groups with specific causes and goals.

This isn't to say that we will see Anonymous disappear, according to McAfee, but rather that we will see it decline as cohesive groups bound by specific causes fling attacks against organizations and companies conflicting with them. Examples provided include hacktivists, ecoterrorists, and anti-globalization supports.

Says McAfee Labs: "Sympathizers of Anonymous are suffering. Too many uncoordinated and unclear operations have been detrimental to its reputation. Added to this, the disinformation, false claims, and pure hacking actions will lead to the movement's being less politically visible than in the past. Because Anonymous' level of technical sophistication has stagnated and its tactics are better understood by its potential victims, the group's level of success will decline."

Other expected issues in 2013 include a combination of smaller malware nuisances and scams, as well as large, destructive malicious malware that launch digital attacks against platforms and infrastructure, with the goal being to create destruction rather than illicitly harvest money. Another problem expected to boom is so-called randsomware, which provides a government emblem and purports that the user must pay a fine because child pornography and other nastiness was detected on their computer, both scaring and scamming people out of hundreds of dollars.

[via ars technica]