Attacks Spur Intrusion-Detection Efforts
( 5/28/98; 12:00 PM EST)
By Rutrell Yasin, InternetWeek
Corporate America's key asset -- intellectual property -- is at risk.
Over the past year, there has been a rise in attempts by cyberthieves
to break into corporate computer systems where much of the valuable
business data is stored, according to Corporate America's Security
Intelligence Risk, an upcoming WarRoom Research report.
Of the 320 Fortune 1000 companies interviewed by WarRoom, 69 percent
were the targets of information espionage last year, while 53 percent
reported attacks in 1996, according to Mark Gembicki, president of
WarRoom.
To protect their corporate assets, 68 percent of the "targeted"
companies implemented some form of intrusion-detection technology to
safeguard their computer networks. In 1996, only 27 percent of the
respondents had implemented intrusion-detection technology.
Nearly 84 percent of the companies WarRoom surveyed expressed an
interest in the technology, but only 31 percent expressed any level of
confidence in these tools' performance, according to Gembicki.
After testing some of the leading systems, Secure Networks -- a
security-assessment company recently acquired by Network Associates --
issued a technical advisory earlier this year. Secure Networks found
some of the network-based intrusion-detection systems were susceptible
to packet-spoofing, packet fragmentation, and denial-of-service
attacks.
These tools are becoming hot-ticket items as vendors such as Cisco,
Network Associates, and Security Dynamics enter the fray. "Intrusion
detection is part of a new approach to security that is absolutely
required. However, it cannot stand alone," said Winn Schwartau,
president of InfoWar.com, a security consultancy.
"It should be a component of an overall good network architecture,"
echoed David King, a product marketing manager of Cisco's NetRanger
system.
Intrusion detection should be used with a combination of firewalls,
antivirus, authentication, and encryption tools, experts said.
-o-
Subscribe: mail majordomo@sekurity.org with "subscribe isn".
Today's ISN Sponsor: Repent Security Incorporated [www.repsec.com]
Received on Thu Jun 4 09:01:40 1998