Business and government at all levels are falling far short of protecting cyberspace from ever more proficient and sophisticated online criminals – and the vast majority of the community is far too relaxed about the dangers.
So the fifth annual symposium of the Information Assurance Advisory Council, hosted by Ernst & Young, heard recently. Prof Sir David King, the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, was keynote speaker. Information assurance is the protection of personal and corporate information, primarily on the Internet and in electronic communication. Maarten Botterman, CEO of the IAAC, said: “Cyber-crime is invisible, and so are the opportunities we present for it to be carried out – we need to urge government, business and individuals to think of internet crime in visible terms. If we all do that then a great number of us will realise that we leave keys in locks, safe doors wide open, confidential information in plain view and expose ourselves to theft and fraud virtually every minute of every day.” Speakers included John Lyons of the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit and Stuart Okin, Chief Security Officer of Microsoft UK. Mr Botterman quoted the DTI’s Industry Information Security Breaches Survey, around 75 per cent of all businesses have suffered a security breach involving their information, and this rises to 94pc for large businesses – organisations with more than 1,000 employees.
Mr Botterman added: There is a vast cost associated with every breach: each incident takes between two and 20 man-days to clear up, typically costing between £1,000 and £10,000. Again, it is largely invisible because there are no splintered doors, broken windows or ransacked offices to clear up. But individuals – whether operating a PC at home for personal reasons, or in the office for business reasons – are also a major influence. Many people use a single username, ID and password for all their programmes or internet access – that’s the equivalent of having one key for every single lock in one’s life: house, car, garage, shed, safe, office or business.”
