Wednesday, March 09, 2005

More IT security threats on the horizon

As a follow-up to yesterday's item on Web security, I just read an article in the March 4, 2005 issue of ComputerWorld Canada, No rest for the wicked antivirus war (requires free registration).

According to the 2004 IBM Global Business Security Index report, mobile devices are the new frontier for viruses, and other potential security threats.

As well, IBM has identified instant messaging platforms as likely targets of attack and the company anticipates an increase in "phishing" attacks that use fake Web sites to deceive recipients into divulging personal information.

If that weren't enough, there is another area of concern, of course. The federal government is failing to meet its own standards for IT security, as was pointed out by the recent report of the Auditor General tabled last month in the House of Commons. Sensitive personal data kept by the government is at risk and any failures to safeguard it could "erode the trust Canadians have in the ability of their government to transact business online..."

According to one Canadian CTO interviewed by ComputerWorld Canada, the Canadian government spends less than three per cent of its IT budget on security. In comparison, in its second annual Global State of Information Security study, PricewaterhouseCoopers reports that IT security budgets as a percentage of the overall IT budget in major organizations averaged 11.27 percent in 2004 (survey of 8,100 IT security professionals from 62 countries).

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:21 pm

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