funsec mailing list archives
FW: The Dangers Within
From: "Richard M. Smith" <rms () bsf-llc com>
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 08:58:21 -0500
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113926053552466409.html?mod=todays_us_the_jo urnal_report The Dangers Within The biggest threats to information security often don't come from hackers. They come from a company's own employees. Here's how you can stop them. By MICHAEL TOTTY February 13, 2006; Page R1 What keeps your company's computer-security officer awake nights? You. Ask most people about information security, and the first thing they imagine is the outside hacker -- whether it be a lone teenager staring at a computer screen or foreign terrorists bent on wreaking economic havoc. But insiders pose at least as great a threat to a company's computer systems and all the valuable data they hold. Employees can steal trade secrets or sell customer financial records or eavesdrop on the boss's email. Or they can simply be careless, leaving their laptops unsecured or sending confidential information in an unencrypted email that anyone could read. In other words, insiders are a problem precisely because they're trusted enough to be let inside. "You've given them the keys to the castle," says Scott Charney, chief security strategist at Microsoft <http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=msft> Corp. "The more important they are to the organization, the more access they have." What's more, dealing with troublesome insiders is often a lot harder than dealing with outsiders: You can't just install antivirus software or strengthen the network firewall. But companies can be doing more to increase employees' awareness of the danger, to protect valuable information from those inside the firewall and to keep track of what insiders do when they're using corporate computer systems. "A lot of large enterprises are just anarchy," says Paul Proctor, a vice president in Gartner Inc.'s security and risk group. "What companies have to do is reasonably anticipate their risks and put controls in place against them." The insider threat isn't new -- ask any company that requires two signatures for writing checks. But it's getting a lot more attention lately from security experts, thanks to well-publicized cases of insider abuses. Last year, for instance, a ring of former employees of Bank of <http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=BAC> America Corp., Wachovia <http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=wb> Corp. and eight other big banks were accused of stealing customer-account information from the banks where they worked. The risk of mischief grows greater as the definition of "insider" keeps expanding. Customer financial records are turned over to outsourced call centers, and suppliers share access to computerized product designs. Moreover, insiders have a lot more tools at their disposal -- instant messaging, Web-based email, flash-memory devices for moving files discreetly between PCs -- that can be used to compromise a company's security systems. ...
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