The trouble with most targeted attacks is that by the time you realize your organization is under siege by hackers, you're toast: The attackers are either already well entrenched in your network or have already taken off with your data.
Unlike random attacks, the targeted attack is all about stealing (or sabotaging) documents, data, or intellectual property from a specific organization.
The good news is these attacks aren't as prevalent as random ones. The bad news is that they are on the rise: MessageLabs says there are about five to 10 targeted attack attempts daily on its clients, up from one to two a day 12 months ago, and one to two a week two years ago. And it's not just the big boys that are in the bull's eye anymore, according to MessageLabs -- even a small company with some hot intellectual property is at risk.
