Cyber crime gathers strength

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,3852567^15306,00.html

Ian Grayson and Deborah Bogle
The Australian
27feb02

AUSTRALIAN companies are on notice - it's just a matter of time before
they face attacks from cyber terrorists that could cause millions of
dollars in losses.

Whether it's the theft of customer information, network break-ins or
malicious computer viruses, online criminals are out to cause as much
destruction as possible.

However, experts warn Australia is woefully under-prepared for such
threats. Technical deterrents and legislation need to be rapidly
improved.

South Australian police commissioner Mal Hyde told delegates at the
World Congress on IT in Adelaide that the legal framework was
incapable of dealing with the types of computer-based crimes that were
now becoming prevalent.

"We are being pushed into living our lives online and so you come to
depend (on computers)," he said.

However, the laws had not kept pace with technology.

He said the anonymity provided by the internet allowed criminals to
conduct fraudulent transactions, steal identities and launch attacks
against companies and public infrastructure with little chance of the
police catching up with them.

Retired FBI agent and self-styled futurist Bill Tafoya told delegates
the global cost of cyber crime and cyber terrorism had already reached
trillions of dollars, but most incidents went unreported.

So far, most of the attacks had come from amateur operators, but this
would inevitably change as organised crime groups focused more of
their efforts towards online activities.

If you put the right skill set together, you could do significant
damage, he told the conference. It was only a matter of time before it
happened.

He cited a recent example from the US where an organised crime group
hacked into a hospital computer system and administered a fatal dose
of drugs to a patient. Law enforcement agencies were well placed to
deal with traditional crimes but struggled when faced with this type
of new threat.

Director of Global Law Enforcement Programs with EDS Bill Bogart said
companies had to be mindful of how much attacks against their IT
infrastructure could cost.

He said a company such as US computer manufacturer Dell conducted more
than $US40 million of business a day on the internet. The cost of an
outage in their IT systems could be measured in millions of dollars
per hour.



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