FW: The Dangers Within

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () bsf-llc com>]

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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