http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201807230 By Richard Martin InformationWeek September 18, 2007 Despite the increase in government compliance requirements and the proliferation of security tools, companies continue to underestimate the threat from phishing, data loss, and other cyber vulnerabilities, new McAfee CEO David DeWalt said Tuesday. In a keynote address at the InformationWeek 500 conference in Tucson, DeWalt said "it's amazing how low the awareness is of cyber-security threats" among both government officials and corporate executives. "As the world has flattened, we've seen a significant amount of emerging threats from increasingly sophisticated groups attacking organizations around the world." Citing recent highly publicized corporate data breaches that have beset major companies like Ameritrade, Citigroup, and Bank of America, DeWalt said that cyber-crime has become a $105 billion business that now surpasses the value of the illegal drug trade worldwide. Last week Internet stock trading company TD Ameritrade Holding said that one of its databases had been hacked by a thief who obtained personal information on some of its customers. Yesterday, an attorney launching a class-action lawsuit against Ameritrade claimed the online brokerage knew that someone had compromised its database as early as one year ago. An Ameritrade spokeswoman told InformationWeek that all of the company's 6.3 million accounts opened before July 18 of this year were exposed. Worldwide data losses now represent $40 billion in losses to affected companies and individuals each year, DeWalt says. But law enforcement's ability to find, prosecute, and punish criminals in cyberspace has not kept up: "If you rob a 7-11 you'll get a much harsher punishment than if you stole millions online," DeWal remarked. "The cross-border sophistication in tracking and arresting cyber-criminals is just not there." Looking ahead to new forms of threat detection and enterprise data security, DeWalt outlined five major trends that will reshape the security industry and transform how companies secure their corporate and customer information in the next few years. The first is industry consolidation, as the large number of small vendors become acquired or give way to larger companies. "The security market will go through the same transition that other industries have," DeWalt said. "Right now you've got 50 or 60 vendors out there, and customers are faced with the questions of how do you integrate all those solutions, and create interoperability between them? It's not sustainable." With vendor consolidation will come the transition from multiple security agents on desktops and laptops to what McAfee terms "unified threat management," with a "single pane of glass" that allows IT managers to monitor and manage systems and devices across the entire network through a single console or platform. Second, the increase in cyber-threats has fueled a rapid growth in compliance requirements as the federal government tries to mandate higher levels of security and protection of sensitive consumer and patient data. "There's a lot of legislation around industries forcing them to comply with various standards for customer protection," said DeWalt, including payment-card industry regulations, Sarbanes-Oxley reporting requirements for public companies, and the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. In fact, along with many corporate executives in the U.S., DeWalt believes that "the pendulum has swung too far" toward increased government oversight of corporations and the customer data they control, causing American companies to lose their competitive edge to businesses in other countries with less-stringent compliance requirements, particularly in Asia. The third important trend is the movement of security protection from the perimeter of corporate networks toward the data layer itself: "Traditional security has always been concentrated on the perimiter, on endpoint devices, particularly with firewalls," DeWalt noted. "The focus now is on thinking about data-oriented security" by classifying certain types of data so that it cannot leave the corporate network or company-owned devices. That is especially important because some 70% of all data losses are caused by insiders of one sort or another. Fourth, companies are facing new challenges as server virtualization spreads across many industries and many types of industries. "Virtualization is an amazing juggernaut in terms of security risk," said DeWalt, listing non-compliant virtual machines, VM-aware threats that can subvert countermeasures, the propagation of infected virtualization images, and "hyperjacking," or the potential for a single breach to offer simultaneouos access to many machines across a virtualized environment as some of the emerging risks. "Managing and protecting a single physical endpoint is much different than managing security virtually," DeWalt said. Finally, the emergence of new platforms and devices presents cyber-criminals with new targets for hacks and phishing scams. Mobile devices such as smartphones and voice-over-IP systems are inherent more vulnerable than traditional clients and telephony services. McAfee and its competitors are bringing out new products and technology to deal with these emerging threats, said DeWalt, but the advantage for the moment still lies with the evildoers in cyberspace. "We're in inning two of a nine-inning game here," he concluded. __________________________________________________________________ CSI 2007 is the only conference that delivers a business-focused overview of enterprise security. It will convene 1,500+ delegates, 80 exhibitors and features 100+ sessions/seminars providing a roadmap for integrating policies and procedures with new tools and techniques. Register now for savings on conference fees and/or free exhibits admission. - www.csiannual.com
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