- Related Stories
-
Win32.VB worm spreading quickly
January 18, 2006 -
Feds aim for more data sharing by terrorist screeners
January 17, 2006 -
Microsoft security zaps laptop tracer
December 14, 2005 -
Stolen PC holds sensitive consumer data
November 9, 2005 -
Separating myth from reality in ID theft
October 24, 2005 -
Port spike may portend an attack, experts say
June 23, 2005 -
Offline ID crimes still more severe
January 26, 2005
The FBI calculated the price tag by extrapolating results from a survey of 2,066 organizations. The survey, released Thursday, found that 1,324 respondents, or 64 percent, suffered a financial loss from computer security incidents over a 12-month period.
The average cost per company was more than $24,000, with the total cost reaching $32 million for those surveyed.
Often survey results can be skewed, because poll respondents are more likely to answer when they have experienced a problem. So, when extrapolating the survey results to estimate the national cost, the FBI reduced the estimated number of affected organizations from 64 percent to a more conservative 20 percent.
"This would be 2.8 million U.S. organizations experiencing at least one computer security incident," according to the
By comparison, telecommunication fraud losses are about only $1 billion a year, according to the U.S. Secret Service. Also, the overall cost to Americans of
Other surveys have attempted to put a dollar amount on cybersecurity damages in the past, but the FBI believes its estimate is the most accurate because of the large number of respondents, said Bruce Verduyn, the special agent who managed the survey project.
"The data set is three or four times larger than in past surveys," he said. "It is obviously a staggering number, but that is the reality of what we see."
Responding to
These figures do not include much of the staff, technology, time and software employed to prevent security incidents, Verduyn said. Also, losses to individuals who are victims of computer crime or victims in other countries are not included, he said.
The FBI's next fiscal year, for which budgets must be reviewed and approved, begins Oct. 1. Protecting the U.S. against high technology crimes is third on the agency's list of priorities.
Defenses in place
Survey respondents use a variety of security products for protection. Antivirus software is almost universally used, with 98.2 percent of respondents stating they use it. Firewalls follow in second place, with 90.7 percent, and anti-spyware and antispam are each used by about three-quarters of respondents, according to the survey.
The results mean that close to one in 10 organizations does not have a hardware or software firewall. Or perhaps they don't know they have one--the Windows Firewall in Windows XP, for example. "Some are very small businesses that should have that technology, but they don't," Verduyn explained.
Organizations were attacked despite use of security products, with nine out of 10 respondents saying they experienced a security incident. In fact, the most common attacks aligned with the most commonly used defenses. Computer viruses, worms or Trojan horses plagued 84 percent of respondents, 80 percent reported spyware trouble, and 32.9 percent said attackers were probing their systems using
Not all threats came from outside the organization. More than 44 percent of the survey respondents reported intrusions from within the company. "Companies may be unaware of the internal potential for computer security incidents," Verduyn said. He recommends applying policies and procedures to thwart attacks from the inside.
The FBI surveyed companies in Iowa, Nebraska, New York and Texas. Companies older than three years, with more than five employees and with more than $1 million in revenue were asked to participate. Survey participants were asked to provide their responses by the end of July 2005, with their answers covering the previous 12-month period.
See more CNET content tagged:
survey,
computer security,
theft,
crime,
VPN
warmed up and ready, and start adding.
And by "kids," what I really mean is corporate IT management; to
the extent that IT and management can be used in the same
sentence when accounting for a genuine contribution towards
overall company interests.
About time to make MSFT pay $1 billion PER VIRUS INCIDENT or exposed vulnerability *directly* into the national treasury. That would at least offset the cost to the country and make them more responsible.
If a bank left their door unlocked, their cameras off, and your safedeposit box open overnight and someone stole it, do you think YOU should be paying for their mistake? I think not. The bank should pay ALL clients for their mistakes. Same rules should apply to software.
Linux or OS X. But very, very few will.
Just goes to show you that P.T. Barum was right: "There's a
sucker born every minute".