“Cyber criminals are focusing on developing expertise in one specific skill–such as coding, hacking or moving money–rather than being generalists as they collaborate with colleagues to carry out computer exploits, a senior FBI cybersecurity official said today.

The cyber underground now consists of subject matter experts that focus on their specific areas, Steven Chabinsky, an FBI deputy assistant director in the bureau’s Cyber Division, said today at the FOSE 2010 trade show in Washington. Chabinsky added that almost every cyber criminal is now a member of an online forum or chat service.

‘Just like you have doctors who are specialists instead of general practitioners, we have cyber criminals who are specialists instead of general practitioners,’ Chabinsky said.”

(Source: Cyber criminals getting specialized, FBI says — Federal Computer Week.)