On Dec. 6th, 2011, Carl Franzen wrote for TPM on how cybersecurity company Symantec has reported a huge increase in targeted cyber attacks for 2011. The article notes a Symantec report that says targeted cyber attacks increased by 400% over the course of 2011. According to the article, a targeted attack is cyberattack directed at a specific individual. This should be distinguished from "broad-based malware designed to infect as many individuals as possible."
Targeted attacks delivered the Duqu and Stuxnet viruses, but targeted attacks rarely deliver an APT (advanced persistent threat) like Stuxnet.
The article explains that in 2005, Symantec reported blocking one targeted cyber attack per week. In 2011, Symantec is blocking 80 targeted cyber attacks per day.
The rest of the article can be found here.
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