"Hacking," or breaking into another person's or company's computer system, has evolved quite a bit from the the 1983 movie War Games. Corporate computer networks connected to the Internet are now the most susceptible to hacker intrusion. Excluding viruses, hacking is estimated to have cost U.S. businesses billions of dollars in lost revenues and productivity in 1999. And with more than 30,000 hacking-related Web sites, it may only get worse.

 

Chuck Jones, an Analyst in the Technology Group of Salomon Smith Barney and author of "Your Company Is At Risk," discussed various segments of Internet security, including firewalls, intrustion, detection, VPNs and antivirus software, at a recent summit meeting on Internet security.

 

Firewalls can be compared to border crossings, or checkpoints, Jones explained, adding that they are becoming more necessary because of DSL and cable modems. Intrusion detection provides protection against denial of service attacks and is a much earlier-stage segment of Internet security. VPNs, which have encryption at both the client and server ends, allow for security in transit. And antivirus software, concluded Jones, is very proactive, but he warned people are always creating new bugs and viruses that require new antivirus software, thus eliminating this option as a sole form of security.

 

Jones stated his research has found that "75 percent of the technology audit findings are security related these days. . . I've always heard that over half of all attacks come from internal sources. Keep in mind, though, that, typically, an internal attack is sort of a lower-cost attack. People are surfing around; they're doing things they shouldn't be doing. It's still to be considered an attack and a hack. But, usually, they're not trying to steal R&D information, move money around, or things like that," he said.

 

"Security starts with policies," Jones added, but quickly pointed out that even with excellent policies and products, "there is no perfect security solution."

 

For the free program in its entirety, "Internet Security: Who's at Risk," including a multimedia presentation and transcript, visit The CPA Report, or click here. You can get NASBA-approved CPE credit for this course and access our entire Professional Education library by subscribing to CPAR Report.

 

Excerpted from "Internet Security Software: The Ultimate Internet Infrastructure." For additional information, contact joseph.morgan@ssmb.com