People prefer not to complain of hackers

As it becomes clear from the results of the research, which was performed by the Institute for computer security in association with the FBI, the number of hacker attacks in the USA increased last year, but not everyone reported about them. The object of the research was the hacker attacks on American state organizations and large companies. Five hundred and thirty-eight experts took part in the poll - the people, who were in charge of the computer security in large companies, universities, governmental bodies, financial, medical institutions. Eighty-five percent of the respondents discovered last year that hackers made holes in their computer networks. But only 36% of them reported about the attacks to the authorities. However, the number of such reports increased by eleven percent in comparison with the year 2000, UPI informed.

There is not only moral damage that can be caused with hacker attacks: 64% of respondents acknowledged that they had suffered economic losses. Thirty-five percent said – 186 companies – that they had lost over $377 million altogether. This figure was $100 million as less in 2000.

The companies and governmental organizations experience more troubles not only with hackers, but with their own personnel. Ninety-one percent of the “computer security” claimed that the collaborators of their firms and organizations “were misusing the Internet.” The most serious “misuse” is surfing pornographic sites and downloading bootleg programs. This tendency is gathering pace.

The results of the poll proved that the threat of hacker attacks was very serious, but the research did not mention any ways of how to survive in this situation.

Sergey Borisov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov