Podcasts
1st December 2010
Episode 1 - Episode 1 - Data Security
Hi and welcome to The Business Plan, brought to you by LeasePlan. I’m Jackie Allender. In this series, we’re looking at e-business and the way it’s spurring innovation in how organisations go about their work.
There’s no doubt that the online world is revolutionising how we do business – but it’s also clear that it brings threats as well as opportunities.
Perhaps the biggest threat – and the one most often underestimated – is data security.
That issue was brought sharply into focus recently, when search giant Google announced that Chinese-based hackers had tried to infiltrate the mail accounts of human rights activists, and stolen some of its source code. It also revealed that more than 20 other companies had experienced similar attacks from what’s now known as “Operation Aurora”.
Much has been made of the impact on the companies themselves and on US-China relations, but perhaps the incident’s most significant impact is to highlight the increasingly sophisticated efforts of cyber-criminals to access data held on company systems.
Cyber security experts say the threat of data theft is not confined to sensitive government or commercial information. Any company that holds personal data – such as customer data – is vulnerable to attack by criminals seeking to get information that can be used for identity theft or credit card fraud.
If you thought that cybercrime was not something to worry about, the message from security professionals is alarming.
One third of Australian businesses experienced a security incident in 2009, according to security vendor McAfee. And those incidents resulted in an average of $34,000 in lost revenue and an additional $37,000 to fix the problem.
As well – and perhaps more disturbing – the company reports that one in five Australians had their identity stolen last year. And it believes the threats will increase; last year overall cyber attack rose by more than 320 percent worldwide.
Enrique Salem, head of the internet security group Symantec says no-one can afford to drop their guard – even organisations that have implemented a security solution.
Cisco Systems, another major tech company, in its Annual Security Report last year, warns that social networking is a new threat. It says employees using social networks from their office computer could unwittingly expose their organisation to attacks, with cybercriminals increasingly exploiting the trust that people place in their online “friends”.
Of course the security companies have a vested interest in playing up the issue. But the business risk is real. Not only the risk to proprietary information, but reputation risk and, in Australia as well as other countries, privacy legislation that requires businesses to protect personal data.
Payment management company, Cybersource, surveyed more than 200 British online merchants for its 2010 Online Fraud report. That report found 57 per cent of those surveyed rated online fraud as one of the biggest threats to business. What’s remarkable is that in the same survey in 2007, only 6 per cent of merchants rated online fraud so seriously.
It may be this increased awareness that’s driving growth in the IT security sector. After weathering the global financial meltdown, companies are now beginning to beef up their security.
So much so that in the Asia-Pacific region, sales of secure content and threat management applications are expected to soar by more than 18 per cent in the coming year.
That’s probably just as well, since it seems IT security budgets were one of the major casualties of corporate cost-cutting during the global downturn. It just might be that 2010 turns out to be the year that data security stopped being the sleeper issue for Australian business.
That’s it for this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of The Business Plan. Don’t forget, if you have something you want to say about this issue, go to the LeasePlan website at leaseplan dot com dot au and follow the links to ‘The Business Plan’, where you’ll find a transcript of this podcast, as well as a section where you can make a comment. Next week, we’re looking at social media and how your organisation can make the most of it. I’m Jackie Allender, thank you for listening.
LINKS RELATED TO THIS STORY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Aurora
http://www.smh.com.au/action/printArticle?id+994528
http://www.esecurityplanet.com/features/print.php/3859296
http://www.esecurityplanet.com/fefatures/print/3861406
http://www.cybersource.com
http://www.mcafee.com/us/about/corporate/fight_cybercrime/index.html
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