World at risk from hackers

2004-08-16 22:14

Mumbai - Computer hackers are keeping up with the times and are putting an increasingly technology-dependent world at risk, said the chairperson of leading US-based IT security firm Mcafee on Monday.

"The telecom infrastructure - whether it be routing in India, UK, Germany or US - is at risk, " George Samenuk told a business conference in Bombay.

"When cellphones go down, it is 10 times worse because the whole world revolves around cellphones nowadays," he said.

"One major telecom company had 800 mega bytes of their source code stolen.

"A large retail chain could not operate their credit card automation on a Saturday because of a virus attack and lost millions of dollars."

Samenuk said software could now automatically block out 90% of attacks, but other viruses were still getting through.

He recommended complying with normal safety procedures such as keeping long passwords and frequently changing them and not allowing unauthorised people access to organisations' networks.

Money stolen from accounts

But he said the increased reliance on technology for sensitive information presented challenges as hackers often posed as banks inquiring for personal details.

"We have had tens of thousands of people who had money stolen from their accounts. So, this is another major concern," said Samenuk.

"As many, many more people are switching to using mobile phones for e-mails and tracking stock quotations, we are seeing the propensity of attacks increase," he added.

The global rush for internet-enabled phones, which are estimated to number more than 15 million by the end of next year, would be an enormous security challenge, he said.

- AFP