Malware Threat Growing From Unemployed Ranks

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.cio.com/article/487220/Malware_Threat_Growing_From_Unemployed_Ranks?taxonomyId=1419

Looking at the statistics, February was a positively brutal month for workers being idled. Last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the ugly numbers. There were 2,769 mass layoff actions putting 295,477 out of work. That's 542 mass layoff actions more than January and 57,575 laid off.

By John Dodge

Fri, March 27, 2009 — Looking at the statistics, February was a positively brutal month for workers being idled. Last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the ugly numbers. There were 2,769 mass layoff actions putting 295,477 out of work. That's 542 mass layoff actions more than January and 57,575 laid off.

I wondered how many of those were IT people and what percentage might turn to cyber crime. The BLS only obliquely breaks out what could represent IT workers as "professional and technical services." Not surprisingly, manufacturing bore the brunt of February's layoffs accounting for 47% of the unemployment claims, but IT folks could represent a small piece in all the 19 industry sectors that BLS follows.

Suffice it to say there's plenty of IT folks with little or nothing to do. That out of work IT professionals turn to cyber crime should come as no surprise. So the headline to an IDG News service article on China becoming the world's malware factory is to be expected. The story explores how idled workers in China are turning to cyber crime.

FULL story at link.