http://www.zdnet.com/filters/printerfriendly/0,6061,2197569-2,00.html
Hackers are out in full force
By Stephanie Neil, PC Week Online
February 1, 1999 6:33 AM PT
If you haven't taken steps to defend your corporate network against
cracker attacks, you'd better start. These criminal types who want your
company's data are everywhere. In fact, there's a good possibility that
attempts to hack into your computer systems have already been made.
According to Pilot Network Services, an Internet service provider that
specializes in securing corporate clients against such attacks, there has
been a steady rise of questionable activity since 1995, when the company
was formed. Last year, Pilot denied about 30 million packets per month
from hackers attempting to enter its customers' systems. That number will
increase over the next few years as more companies move toward e-commerce
sites that open the door to outsiders.
What could a hacker possibly want from your company? Well, according to
Marketta Silvera, president and CEO of Pilot, they'll go after a financial
database, pricing strategies or a list of customer contacts. "Financial
espionage is growing because of e-commerce," Silvera said.
And the hackers are getting more sophisticated. (You think a firewall is
going to do the trick and keep the bad guys out? Think again.) That's
where Pilot comes in, with a defensive network infrastructure based on its
own security utility. It isolates all traffic before it reaches the client
network, then separates the packets for filtering and analysis. If it
finds an anomaly, entry into the network is denied.
Busted
But Pilot offers more than just a tool. This is a service, and probably
one of the best value-added ISP services I've heard of yet.
Pilot's technology is sophisticated enough to pinpoint where the attack
originated. Silvera calls her company the "CIA of online services," and
she told how members of the Pilot team were able to call a hacker on the
phone while he was attempting to break into a Pilot customer site. (In
this case, the guy was fishing around for information on the company in
preparation for a job interview there the next day. Needless to say, he
didn't get the job.)
But the point is this: Hacking is no longer child's play. Forget about
those stories of wanna-be teen hackers gaining access to their school
records or trying to break into a government system as a prank. No more.
This is serious white collar crime now, which means the professionals are
going at it--stealing from you.
This year, you need to start thinking about practicing a little
self-defense.
-o-
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Received on Thu Mar 11 17:17:27 1999