Cybercrime Artists Taking the Lead

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Security, Security, Security

Cyber Crime Artists Taking the Lead

A real epidemic of technology crimes is taking place. This is everything from computer laptop thefts to attacks of software killer viruses is spreading just as fast as technology itself. Most experts are predicting the situation to get much worse with the growth of the Internet, the rising number Web-enabled wireless devices such as palm pilots and cell phones and the increased use of PC's.

Consider this:

About 90% of corporate and governmental agencies surveyed by the FBI and the Computer Security Institute in March of this year said they detected security breaches in the last 12 months.
In 1999 laptop computer thefts totaled 319,000 compared to 303,000 the previous year, according to the insurance company Safeware Inc.
E-mail viruses are growing in large numbers. According to McAfee.com Corp., an anti-virus software developer that also tracks virus out breaks world wide on its web site, estimates that more than 3.9 million files were infected by versions of the "Love Bug" virus in the past 30 days. That's substantially more than McAfee.com tracked during the first outbreak of the virus in May of 2000.

There are several reason for the alarming growing rate of cyber crime in today's technology craze: The ever growing and speedy expansion of the Internet as well as the countless number of new computer devices being introduced to the market.

"More people are becoming networked, more people are using the Internet to conduct business, and more companies are getting into the Internet to do E-commerce...but (security) is still woefully inadequate," said Patrice Rapalus, director of the Computer Security Institute, a group of information secuity executives. "Information security departments at most fortune 1,000 companies are understaffed, under funded, under trained, and undersupported...and they aren't paid any attention until something bad happens."

A recent survey by Forrester Research Inc. demonstrated that businesses usually spend one-tenth of 1% of their annual revenues on security. "Many firms today spend more money on coffee than they do on security." said Frank Prince, senior analyst at Forrester, but as more and more virus outbreaks occur, and more thefts occur with hand held devices, things will change.

At the recent Comdex technology show, many companies introduced new products aimed at keeping networks safe, viruses from spreading and hand held devices in the right hands. As an example: Acer computer Corp. demonstrated a new laptop that features a built-in fingerprint recognition scanner. In yet another example: Indentix Inc. demonstrated a fingerprint ID system on a prototype Motarola wireless phone that can't be turned on without the right fingerprint.

All the new technology developments have brought on a host of whole new problems dealing with security which our society is not yet used too. We will have to educate ourselves carefully about security. It seems that the Russian computer experts have become the best computer hackers and anti-virus developers in the world. They plan to make our world of communications miserable and we need to make ourselves prepared.

If you use the Internet, and your computers are networked you'd better be using firewall protection software, and anti-virus software and update it every 14 days! If your office shares floppy disks or super disks check those disks for viruses before you use them. Employees who take their work home and use their home computers to do their work could bring virus back to the office on floppies and infect the whole office in minutes. Always check those floppies for viruses.

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330-296-3439

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