Anti-malware failing firms, Nato expert says

Organisations with sensitive data remain at risk from increasingly cunning spies because anti-malware firms are not interested in "low traffic" problems, a top Nato expert said yesterday.

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Suleyman Anil, head of the Nato Computer Incident Response Capability Coordination Centre, told an e-crime conference that anti-malware suppliers had done a good job, but said that it was hard to interest them in targeted, social engineering driven attacks by foreign intelligence agencies.

Nato uses commercial off-the-shelf products to protect its business and administration network, he said. "I have little sympathy for IT managers who complain about attacks because affordable, deployable solutions are available." But they needed to be applied properly and kept up to date, he said.

"The computer is almost the perfect weapon," he said. It is low cost, low risk, multipurpose, locatable anywhere, easily deployed and very effective, he said. That is why Nato rated cybercrime up with missile defence, energy supply and terrorism as security threats, he said.

Anil said Nato would publish its new plan that reflects this assessment at its Bucharest meeting next month.