“A great year for data thieves”

Recently a report from the Verizon Buisness RISK Team was released showing that over 285 million records were stolen last year, which is more then the past 4 years combined.

How was all this data lost and was it preventable? According to this report, 99% of it was from compromised servers and applications, 20% of that was from insiders within the company and 87% of the losses were easily preventable. The majority of the organizations, some 81%, weren’t even PII compliant.

"We find that many organizations achieve very high levels of security in numerous areas but neglect others," wrote Verizon. "Criminals will almost always prefer the easier route. Identifying a set of essential controls and ensuring their implementation across the organization without exception, and then moving on to more advanced controls where needed is a superior strategy against real-world attacks."

Read report here:
http://www.verizonbusiness.com/resources/security/reports/2009_databreach_rp.pdf

The Threat Goes On. Now it Gets Serious!

Cyber Security - The Threat Continues

The world of computers and the Internet is an exciting but increasingly dangerous place. From the blog here is the latest posting that makes our hair stand up on end.

"The latest report by the Munk Center for International Studies at the University of Toronto, that took the internet world by storm after it was released on Sunday, names computers at nine Indian embassies — UK, US, Germany, Serbia, Cyprus, Belgium, Italy Kuwait and Zimbabwe — that were infected by GhostNet. In all, the network consists of 1,295 infected computers in 103 countries. Significantly, all the computers are located in countries where China has a special interest. The investigation has pointed to several hackers in China’s Hainan province where the Lingshui Signals Intelligence facility is located." The IndianExpress

And here is a further and more frightening story of British vulnerability to cyber attacks and hacking.

From the Times Online: "INTELLIGENCE chiefs have warned that China may have gained the capability to shut down Britain by crippling its telecoms and utilities. They have told ministers of their fears that equipment installed by Huawei, the Chinese telecoms giant, in BT's new communications network could be used to halt critical services such as power, food and water supplies."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5993156.ece

So if this is true are you wondering how secure your nice little computer is? All the more reason to practice due diligence and work with people who can at least make your equipment halfway safe.