Hackers faster, harder to keep out

Hackers faster, harder to keep out:

Computer hackers are getting faster and harder to keep out of corporate and government systems, a major conference on computer crime has heard.

The Computer Crime and Security Survey, released at the AusCERT 2004 Asia Pacific IT security conference on the Gold Coast, also revealed that efforts to date had failed to reduce the risk of hacking, with harmful attacks on computer systems in Australia increasing over the past year.

The anonymous survey of more than 200 businesses and government agencies was compiled with assistance of state police forces, Federal Police, the Australian High Tech Crime Centre and the national computer emergency response team, AusCERT.

AusCERT general manager Graham Ingram said despite businesses spending more money fighting computer crime over the past year, only five per cent believed they were managing all computer security issues reasonably well.

'Corporate Australia is having problems dealing with these issues,' said Mr Ingram. 'It's telling you how difficult this issue is.
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'The message to the companies that are running these systems is to keep going. You can't stop. You have to continue. This is a war you can't afford not to fight.'

The most common and costliest attack on computer systems over the past year was from malicious viruses, worms or Trojans with the average loss for all types of electronic computer attacks up 20 per cent to $116,212."