A suspected crooked insider at a New York software company sells consumer-credit reports to identity thieves, at roughly $30 a pop, in a high-tech scam that prosecutors say victimizes thousands.
This and other recent data intrusions, whose authors are typically intent on theft, sabotage or cyberterrorism, have given rise to a promising profiling strategy aimed at preventing online break-ins as they happen.
Just as authorities use profiling to guard against criminals at borders, researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo are developing software that can generate highly personalized profiles of network users by analyzing the sequences of commands entered at each computer terminal.
The system could provide a high-grade layer of protection for military installations and government agencies as well as banking or other commercial networks that require especially tight monitoring.
The software draws up regularly updated profiles by closely tracking over time how each person performs an array of routine tasks, such as opening files, sending e-mail or searching archives.
Designed to tell if someone has strayed into an unauthorized zone or is masquerading as an employee using a stolen password, the program keeps watch for even subtle deviations in behavior.
Alerted to anomalies, network administrators then begin monitoring more aggressively to assess whether pilferage is in progress.
