found that more than half had experienced computer-related break-ins during the past two years; 17 respondents had losses over $1 million" ("November 1995 Feature"). In a survey conducted by Computer Security and the FBI, 53 percent of 428 respondents said they were victims of computer viruses; 42 percent also said that unauthorized use of their systems had occurred within the last 12 months (Rothfeder, "November 1996 Feature" 1).While electronic attacks are increasing more rapidly than any other kind, a large number of data break-ins are from the inside. Ray Jarvis, President of Jarvis International Intelligence, says "In information crimes, it's not usually the janitor who's the culprit. It's more likely to be an angry manager who's already looking ahead to another job"(Rothfeder, "November 1996 Feature" 3).While electronic espionage is increasing, so is the ability to protect computer systems. "The American Society for Industrial Security estimates that high-tech crimes, including unreported incidents, may be costing U.S. corporations as much as $63 billion a year" (Rothfeder, "November 1996 Featuer" 1).There are many ways for businesses to protect themselves. They can use a variety of techniques such as firewalls and encryption.Firewalls are one of the most commonly used security devices. They are usually placed at the entrance to a network. The firewalls keep unauthorized users out while admitting authorized users only to the areas of the network to which they should have access. There are two major problems with firewalls, the first, is that they need to be installed at every point the system comes in contact with other networks such as the Internet (Rothfeder, "November 1996 Feature" 5). The second problem is that firewalls use passwords to keep intruders out. Because of this, the firewall is only as good as the identification scheme used to log onto a network (Rothfeder, "November 1996 Feature" 2).Passwords, a major ke...
