You know the one...it goes something like this: So, what do you think are the big issues facing people in IT these days?
It's an enjoyable game because these days it's become so much easier to answer that question.
Unfortunately, however, that's not necessarily a good thing. Not so long ago, an answer to that question might have been "the Internet" or "faster, higher-capacity computers"--technologies that seemed to be evolving faster than a politician's promise; the game then was just trying to keep up.
Today the answers are more likely to be issues that have arisen as a result of having implemented those technologies. And one of those issues in particular seems to pop up with disturbing regularity.
For example, is the hot topic wireless networking, and what it can do for your organisation, or is it the security holes that wireless installations can open up?
How about Web services? Almost before we've had a chance to figure out what they are (and how they will "enable us to work more efficiently than ever before"), they too have the potential to open up security risks for your network.
Could that hot topic be storage? I suppose it could if we set aside the worries about how you're going to protect all that data from disasters and hackers.
So there's the good news: security is a huge topic that should keep us in the IT publishing business busy with stories for years to come. Vendors, too, will be having a field day.
We'll need special gateways to protect wireless networks. And, firewalls are just going to have to be able to operate at an application level to help prevent malicious "Web services" from wreaking havoc on your operation.
It's disturbing though when you start to wonder, Hey, wasn't technology supposed to be making things easier and helping us be more productive, instead of creating situations designed to prevent us from getting a good night's sleep?
And the government certainly isn't helping. According to Leif Gamertsfelder, head of the e-security group at Deacons national law firm, the recently announced Federal budget offers dismally adequate protection for the National Information Infrastructure (NII).
We've all seen how the Government is planning to spend big on defence, border protection, and Pacific solutions, but it will only spend a paltry 32 cents per head of population on protecting the NII over the next four years. (The NII comprises information systems that control sectors such as telecommunications, transport, and distribution, energy, and utilities, and banking and finance.)
The Deacons announcement also compares this outlay to the corresponding US Budget allocation, where approximately AU$28 per head of US population has been set aside for network security over the next fiscal year alone. Is the US really 87 times more susceptible to security-related attacks than Australia?
Not according to another new survey by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, AusCERT and the NSW Police. The 2002 Australian Computer Crime and Security Survey shows the level of computer crime in Australia now exceeds that in the US. A total of 67 percent of Australian organisations surveyed reported being attacked in 2002 (twice the 1999 level),and 35 percent of these organisations experiencing six or more incidents.
Deloitte's Head of IT Security Consulting, Dean Kingsley, said: "The 2002 Survey shows computer security incidents are not only growing rapidly in number, but the source and nature of the attacks is changing." A significant percentage of attacks continue to come from within, but the survey found that external attack is now (for the first time) the greatest threat, affecting 87 percent of companies reporting security breaches.
Security concerns have simply become the price we pay for reaping the benefits of technology. It would be a bit more bearable, however, if the governement would realise the importance of footing some of that bill.
Brian Haverty is Editor-in-Chief of Technology and Business. Reach him at brian.haverty@zdnet.com.au.
