Study finds hacking discussions on one forum have grown an average of 157% from 2007 – 2010 and a major focus on “how to begin hacking”

Redwood Shores, CA – October 17, 2011 – Imperva, a pioneer and leader of a new category of data security solutions for high-value business data in the data center, announced today the release of the “The Monthly Trend Report,” the fifth in the Hacker Intelligence Initiative research series. The report analyzes the content and activities of an online hacker forum with nearly 220,000 registered members, although many are dormant.

The report not only provides insight into hacker psychology, but also details the technical strategies they learn, develop and deploy. This forum is used by hackers for training, communications, collaboration, recruitment, commerce and even social interaction. Commercially, this forum serves as a marketplace for selling of stolen data and attack software. The chat rooms are filled with technical subjects ranging from advice on attack planning to solicitations for help with specific campaigns. This forum is also a place where curious neophytes can find “how-to-hack” tutorials on various methods.

“Studying hacker forums is important to providing insights into hacker psychology and technical strategies,” explained Imperva CTO Amichai Shulman. “Hacker forums are still not well understood by many in the security community, and we believe that studying and quantifying what happens in these online communities can lead to the development of strategies to combat cybercrime.”

The findings include:

• Examples of hacker communications, collaboration, recruitment, commerce and social interaction activities.
• Attack discussions on this forum increased over the four-year period of analysis, growing an average of 157% year over year between 2007 and 2010.
• The most discussed topics in this forum from June 2010 to June 2011 were Dos/DDoS attacks, with 22% of discussions, followed by SQL injections, which comprised 19% of all discussions.
• 25% of discussions from June 2010 to June 2011 focused on “beginning” hacking, with members devoting 6% of their time sharing “how-to” tutorials and discussing basic methodologies, indicating a strong, steady interest from new talent.
• Mobile hacking has seen very strong growth in this forum from 2007 to 2010, with iPhone hacking leading the way.

Download and read the full report at http://www.imperva.com/download.asp?id=327

About Imperva

Imperva is a pioneer and leader of a new category of data security solutions for high-value business data in the data center. With more than 1,300 end-user customers and thousands of organizations protected through cloud-based deployments, Imperva’s customers include leading enterprises, government organizations, and managed service providers who rely on Imperva to prevent sensitive data theft from hackers and insiders. The award-winning Imperva SecureSphere identifies and secures high-value data across file systems, web applications and databases. For more information, visit www.imperva.com, follow us on Twitter or visit our blog.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements, including without limitation those regarding Imperva’s belief that studying and quantifying what happens in online communities can lead to the development of strategies to combat cybercrime. These forward-looking statements are subject to material risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ substantially from expectations. You should consider important risk factors, which include: the risk that studying and quantifying actions in online communities do not lead to strategies to combat cybercrime; and other risks detailed under the caption “Risk Factors” in Imperva’s SEC filings on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. We undertake no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements contained herein after the date of this release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

© 2011 Imperva, Inc. All rights reserved. Imperva and the Imperva logo are trademarks of Imperva, Inc.

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