The Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC), a national leader in information security research and education announced the release of the GTISC Emerging Cyber Threats Report for 2009, outlining the top five areas of security concern and risk for consumer and enterprise Internet users for the coming year.

The report was released at the annual GTISC Security Summit on Emerging Cyber Security Threats – a gathering of leading industry and academic leaders from organizations with a stake in protecting the online user community.

For 2009, GTISC is forecasting five key cyber security areas where threats are expected to increase and evolve: They are: Malware— specifically under the guise of benign social networking links, Botnets – specifically the spread of botnet attacks to wireless and peer-to-peer networks, cyber warfare — including targets on the U.S. economy and infrastructure, threats to VoIP and Mobile Convergence—specifically voice fraud and cellular botnets and The Evolving Cyber Crime Economy – including the rise of sophisticated malware-for-sale kits and programs.

According to the report, data will continue to be the primary motive behind future cyber crime – whether targeting traditional fixed computing environments or mobile applications. Experts from across the IT security spectrum – from government to industry to academia – join GTISC’s call for closer coordination between the
security industry, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), application developers and government regulators to safeguard the user community and hinder the spread of sophisticated cyber security threats.

"At GTISC, we strongly believe that a proactive approach to understanding emerging threats will help us develop more effective information security technologies and strategies," said Mustaque Ahamad, director of GTISC. "The annual GTISC Security
Summit on Emerging Cyber Security Threats and this report seek to give us a better understanding of the increasingly sophisticated cyber security challenges we will face in the years ahead. We wish to thank the esteemed members of the IT security community who assisted us with the creation of this report."