With the bank failures of recent weeks, more pending
redundancies and a continuation of the downward slide, should we be
concerned about lax security? Is someone minding the store while
all this is going on or should we be doing something more when the
banks are going bust?
When the economy takes a downturn, crime usually increases,
writes Raj Samani atISSA UK. This current
economic climate is no different. The US Federal Trade Commission
has had to issue an alert to warn users against emails claiming to
originate from financial institutions. An attempt by
opportunistic phishers hoping to exploit uncertainty in financial
markets. The FTC stated: "these messages may be from 'phishers'
looking to use personal information - account numbers, passwords,
social security numbers - to run up bills or commit other crimes in
a consumer's name".
While such attacks directly target potential customers, the
threat of sabotage to organisations from disgruntled existing or
former employees is also very real, and can have a larger impact on
organisations.
A study commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security
analysed 50 incidents of network sabotage at critical
infrastructure organisations. The study found most were caused by
current or former employees. Forty-six cases resulted from
work-related events, such as sackings or demotions. The study
reported that saboteurs often planned their activities well in
advance, but used unsophisticated methods for exploiting
vulnerabilities.
This is supported by research conducted by Novell. It found 55%
of respondents would continue to use company laptops if they were
not returned. More worrying is that 6% would delete important
files, and 4% openly admitted they would let a virus loose on a
former employer's systems. A further 67% would steal sensitive
information
if they felt it would help in their next job and 38% would
steal company leads.
Examples of former employees turning to sabotage include
a teenager sacked from his £120 per week job for failing to submit
a timesheet. He subsequently launched a denial of service
attack by sending five million emails to former employer Domestic
& General that brought down the corporate website. This cost
the company a reported £18,000 in lost business, not to mention the
overtime and effort of their IT staff.
The first step to avoiding such issues is to ensure that proper
termination procedures are in place. The alternative is to add more
woe to customers and shareholders, by allowing sensitive and/or
their personal data to walk out the door with former employees.
Read more expert advice from the Computer Weekly Security Think
Tank >>