The EU’s cyber security agency ENISA released the Cyber Threat Landscape analysis of 2012, summarising over 120 threat reports. The Threat Landscape also report analyses the “cyber enemy”; identifying and also listing the top ten (out of a total of sixteen) threats in emerging technology areas.

The first Cyber Threat Landscape 2012 published by EU’s cyber Agency ENISA identifies and lists the top threats and their trends, and concludes that drive-by exploits have become the top web threat. In particular, the ENISA Threat Landscape report summarises 120 recent reports from 2011 and 2012 from the security industry, networks of excellence, standardisation bodies and other independent parties, making the report the world’s most comprehensive synthesis presently available. According to the Agency, the report also provides an independent overview of observed threats and threat agents together with the current top threats, and emerging threats trends landscapes. In February 2012, MEPs approved to strengthen the European Network and Information Security Agency.

The areas considered are Mobile Computing, Social Media/Technology, Critical Infrastructure, Trust Infrastructures, Cloud, and Big Data. The identified top ten threats are Drive-by exploits (malicious code injects to exploit web browser vulnerabilities); Worms/trojans; Code injection attacks; Exploit kits (ready to use software package to automate cybercrime); Botnets (hijacked computers that are remotely controlled; (Distributed) Denial of Service attacks (DdoS/DoS); Phishing (fraud mails and websites); Compromising confidential information (data breaches); Rogueware/scareware and Spam.

In addition, ENISA makes a number of conclusions for industry and stakeholders on how to better fight cyber threats to business, citizens and the digital economy at large which include to use a common terminology within threat reports; add the end-user perspective; develop use cases for threat landscapes; collect security intelligence of incidents including starting point and target of an attack; perform a shift in security controls to accommodate emerging threat trends; collect and develop better evidence about attack vectors (methods) so as to understand attack workflows; collect and develop better evidence on the impact reached by attackers; and collect and maintain more qualitative information about threat agents.