[AfrICANN-discuss] Cyber attacks dominate security woes

[Baher Esmat]

And interestingly enough the largest telecom operator in New Zealand has hired a hacker :-)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7962671.stm

Regards,
Baher


On 3/25/09 9:34 AM, "Anne-Rachel Inné" <annerachel at gmail.com> wrote:

http://www.itbrief.co.nz/200903253320/cyber-attacks-dominate-security-woes.php
Cyber attacks dominate security woes  <http://www.itbrief.co.nz/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3320&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=799>
 Written by Kelly Gregor
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Cyber risks have become the biggest IT security threat to New Zealand businesses, Symantec says. The anti-virus provider released the results of its 2009 Managed Security in the Enterprise Report today, which showed cyber risks and actual attacks had vastly increased over the past two years. Nearly all the organisations questioned by Symantec reported a loss in revenue due to heightened threats and decreased consumer trust. Symantec said inadequate budgets, increased regulatory pressures and staffing problems were the main issues in monitoring cyber threats. Symantec Asia Pacific and Japan senior manager Peter Sparkes said New Zealand businesses were no longer isolated from trojans and worms that had previously targeted larger more multi-national companies. Sparks said small companies were now being targeted as much as major financial and government institutions because the value of personal data and information had increased. He said viruses used to be aimed at creating havoc, where as today it is intended for a more malicious purpose such as extracting detailed personal information to be sold. "Companies in NZ are as much affected as anyone else. It's all one domain now. Gone are the days when this only happened to financial services." Sparks said Symantec had received reports that the majority of companies questioned had lost money due to cyber threats and attacks. "Businesses aren't as trusted. This is having a significant impact on productivity and businesses have seen a direct loss from it. Customers are less trusting and in turn this affects the company's brand and market position." More than 80% of companies surveyed reported an increase in cyber attacks, where as 31% saw attacks on a regular basis and 10% claimed to have suffered form an extreme amount of attacks. Symantec ranked cyber attacks as twice as likely to affect businesses as traditional crime such as burglary and natural disasters and four times more likely than terrorism. Symantec managed services vice president Grant Geyer said: "IT management in large enterprises is caught between a rock and a hard place. "Cyber security is a growing problem, yet organisations are having trouble addressing the problem. Managed security services provide a way for many organisations to close the gap and ensure their information and assets are protected," Geyer said. The report was based on a study of 1000 IT managers in the US and Europe during January 2009.
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