Sharpening the hack sore

Complacency may be a bigger threat to end-user data than hackers

Thanks to the proliferation of the internet, Andy Warhol's musing that everyone will be famous for 15 minutes is becoming a reality as hackers try new ways to get their moment in the spotlight.

Warhol's name has even been associated with a worm; as its name suggests, it could potentially bring down the web in a quarter of an hour, or at least create more than a million infections in minutes.

Although viruses and worms spread by members of the hacking community, such as last week's Defacers' Challenge, get heavily publicised and are usually dealt with very quickly by patches to systems, they illustrate the real need for a watertight IT security system and policy.

There is a growing awareness of the need for better security, but there are still too many companies out there, especially in the SME sector, that haven't woken up to the clear and present danger of such attacks. Complacency may be a bigger threat to end-user data than hackers themselves.

Part of the problem could be convincing end-users that attacks of this nature are not just hype by the industry to get them to buy more security products and services, but real threats to business continuity and company data.

The perception of the lone, dysfunctional kid with a grudge and a modem cracking into the Pentagon for a game of thermonuclear war has gone.

Today, hacking communities are organised and co-ordinated, and systems are being hacked every day. Everyone hears when a corporate website is vandalised, but the most dangerous attacks, which steal customer details or R&D data, are usually covered up.

As more and more data gets sent electronically, the risks increase. With good margins to be made on security appliances, software and managed services, the time to add security solutions to reseller portfolios is now.