'We are the worst security risk' - sys admins confess

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/27810.html

By John Leyden
Posted: 28/10/2002 at 12:04 GMT

More than half of all senior IT managers (58 per cent) think that 
their own IT departments offer the largest threat to IT security. 

IT security holes in corporate systems often open up during systems 
upgrades or when integrating new applications into core 
infrastructure, senior managers reported during a recent (and not 
particularly comprehensive) survey by security consultants Defcom. 

Further questioning revealed that 67 per cent of senior IT security 
managers felt that their IT departments lacked the requisite skills to 
handle the widening spectrum of security threats that exist today. Two 
thirds also believed their employees to be a major threat to corporate 
IT security. By contrast, only 10 per cent quizzed during the poll 
identified malicious hackers as the largest threat to security. 

The research also revealed that the majority of senior IT managers (70 
per cent) are reviewing physical access to corporate premises and 
computers, alongside monitoring and identification of IT security 
vulnerabilities, such as computer virus transmission and hacking 
through the firewall. 

Traditionally management of physical security has often been left to 
facilities or office managers. 'Social engineering' where unauthorised 
people gain entry into buildings by pretending to be an employee or 
contractor and then gain access to a PC, stealing or damaging 
corporate data from inside a company, has brought the issue to the 
attention of sys admins. Now many sys admins now want a say in 
tackling the problem. 

The study also found nine in ten (90 per cent) of senior IT security 
managers would rather report to a chief risk officer (CRO) than a 
chief financial officer or finance director. CROs are being appointed 
to boards and executive teams, mainly in the US, to manage all 
corporate risk including credit, market, operational and 'reputation' 
risks. 

Defcom's findings come in a survey of 20 senior IT security managers 
of household name banks, financial institutions and utilities carried 
out during conferences this month in London and Edinburgh. 



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