From: InfoSec News (isnC4I.ORG)
Date: Wed Apr 04 2001 - 01:38:49 CDT

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http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,7369,467649,00.html

Nick Hopkins, crime correspondent
Tuesday April 3, 2001
The Guardian

Cyber-terrorists have hacked into a third of the country's big
companies and public sector organisations, including government
offices, causing damage ranging from infiltrating corporate bank
accounts to information theft, a survey reveals today.

The study, thought to be the first of its kind, found that almost half
of the institutions taking part considered that the security breaches,
sometimes known as netspionage, posed a significant threat to their
survival.

The survey underlines growing fears about the threat of
cyber-terrorism and concern that the UK's leading organisations are
ill-prepared to cope with the problem.

Last week, the foreign secretary, Robin Cook, warned that hacking
could cripple Britain faster than a military strike because computers
are managing most of the country's infrastructure.

The results of the study will be published by the Communications
Management Association (CMA), which is at the forefront of the fight
against cyber-terrorism. CMA members, who are strictly vetted, work in
the UK's big institutions to help them develop systems to combat
hacking.

The CMA asked 172 of its senior personnel to report on incidences of
cyber-terrorism in their organisations. Anonymity was guaranteed,
though many of the companies involved are household names.

Forty-eight per cent reported that the future of their organisation
"could be put at risk by a major network-related security breach", and
60% admitted that hacking posed either a "significant" or "very
significant" threat to their survival. Thirty-two per cent admitted
being the victim of cyber-terrorism.

Hackers had raided corporate bank accounts, stolen information and
been responsible for tax evasion, investment fraud, credit card fraud
and sales fraud. Half of the CMA specialists thought their businesses
were not prepared to cope with security assaults.

To help tackle the problem, the CMA today launches a new body, the
Institute for Communications Arbitration and Forensics, which will
urge businesses to give computer security a greater priority.

"Our members are the ones in the frontline, and they represent
organisations right across the spectrum," a CAM spokesman said. "These
institutions have found they are at very serious risk."

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