Internet Security Systems :: essays research papers fc

     According to a 2002 survey by the FBI, "the little terror from computer crime and other information security breaches continues unabated and...the monetary toll is mounting." Some disturbing statistics include * 90 percent of those responding had at least one security problem. * 85 percent had detected viruses on their computers. * 80 percent said that they had lost money due to a security problem. * 75 percent inform frequent online attacks. Financial losses from Internet security problems continue to grow. At least 20% of organizations reported losses from online theft of private information in 2002. The average size of those losses was over $6.5 million, which was seven times as frequently as in 1997. Some of the increase is attributed to better reporting and more sentiency of the problem, but much of the increase is due to increasing sophistication and tenaciousness of online attackers (Kent & Piscitello 49).Threats to Internet securit y used to take the form of viruses, worms, and poisonous code designed to make a system unstable, or remove certain files. These unwelcome intruders even often announced their arrival with an resolution on the screen or some other visual upset that signaled a problem to the exploiter. In contrast, security threats today are much more sophisticated, and are often undetectable. Rather than simply wanting to realize trouble and inconvenience for a user, these threats have the purpose of stealing privy information from the target computer, including things like passwords, keys for reading encrypted messages, or even save keystrokes (Martin 18).Known commonly as spyware, these classs often are used to introduce the Web sites that a user visits, so as to gather merchandise information. But there is less benign spyware that is able to change browser settings, scan files on a hard drive, or install programs without the user knowing. A user may unwittingly download a spyware prog ram along with games, media players, peer-to-peer programs, or other utilities. In some cases, the user inadvertently agrees to the spyware installation by clicking yes to a user agreement without reading it through and through first. Spyware consumes memory and processing resources, invades privacy, and can promote system instability. It is often unenviable to remove once installed on a computer. Ways to reduce the lay on the line from spyware include updating security policies to allow only trusted package for download, and investigating the source of any program before downloading it, to make accredited it is reputable.