[iwar] [fc:Computers:.Protection.sought.against.disruption.from.hackers]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-02 20:15:44
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 20:15:44 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Computers:.Protection.sought.against.disruption.from.hackers]
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Computers: Protection sought against disruption from hackers 
Pian Chan and Tricia Duryee, Seattle Times, 10/2/2001
No URL available

As many in the Internet security business see it, the Sept.  11 attacks
and the subsequent Nimda virus infection were not a coincidence.  While
the perpetrators may have nothing in common, experts say the hackers
deliberately chose a week when companies were paralyzed with shock.  The
past month has left many companies feeling particularly vulnerable,
prompting interest in contingency and disaster-recovery planning.  And
besides employee safety, information is often a company's most prized
possession. 

"There are a lot more targets than planes and buildings, unfortunately,"
said Chris Christiansen, Internet-security analyst for research group
IDC.  "If terrorists are really serious, there are possibilities in the
infrastructure for even greater disruption."

The more a company makes its networks accessible through handheld
devices and laptops, the more vulnerable it may be. 

"I say we are in the infancy of network security," said Jerry
Ketterling, chief executive of ESSI, a security-consulting group in
Kirkland.  "I don't want to say ground zero.  We have learned something,
but then Nimda came around and showed us that we hadn't learned anything
at all."

Even before the attacks, research firm Gartner estimated that in the
next 10 years, the amount a company will spend on information security
will grow from 0.4 percent to 4 percent of its revenues. 

In Seattle, the number of startups, companies and technologies that
focus on security has grown in Internet time, fueled by network
expertise from Microsoft and infrastructure specialists from Boeing. 
Venture capital has funded a number of products and systems claiming to
protect critical data from attacks, worms and viruses. 

Companies have to let the employees in, so they implement access
controls such as secure identification.  Seattle companies such as
eTunnels and NetMotion Wireless build virtual private networks to safely
allow remote access to corporate networks through the encryption of
data.  Filtering software from Seattle companies such as WatchGuard and
BVRP, formerly Seattle Labs, keeps viruses out. 

To get a picture of how networks get hurt, Seattle-based Asta Networks
and Issaquah company CyberSafe develop monitoring technologies that
detect anomalies in network traffic and intrusion.  Backup solutions
from Redmond company ADIC protect companies from data loss.  And
companies can purchase trust-operating systems that are locked down to
protect the guts of a company operating system from being altered. 

There are a handful of other consulting groups, such as ESSI and
Conjungi Networks of Seattle, that will come in and evaluate a system's
vulnerability or design security systems. 

And problems can continue even after companies spend a little money and
install a couple of applications . 

"Nothing is perfect.  You can achieve very high degrees of security, but
it all depends on how much you are willing to spend," said Mike Simon,
chief technology officer at Conjungi.  "None of this stuff is absolute;
if anyone is saying that you're secure, they are either lying or they
are naive.  That's the absolute truth."

The government already set some mandatory levels of security when it
passed three acts since the mid-'90s regarding health-care records,
confidential financial information and protecting the rights of children
under the age of 13.  Companies dealing with any of those three issues
are mandated by law to maintain certain levels of security. 

"I think that it's brought security awareness to the forefront for a lot
of individuals," said Mark Schulstad, who has seen increased business in
those three areas as Conjungi's director of sales and marketing. 

Schulstad also co-chairs the Security Special Interest Group, which held
its first monthly meeting in January. 

"Information technology as a whole is down, but security is one hunk
that has stayed steady, and, in our case, is growing tremendously,"
partly as a result of Sept.  11, he said.  "People will head more down
that path more as they start to understand that this is serious." In the
wake of tragedy, many security-related companies say sales are up. 

"This is a tragic set of events, and it has been a very unexpected and
positive thing for those of us that sit in the security space," said
Glenn Argenbright, chief executive at Saflink, which developed software
to link large-scale networks to biometric devices, such as retinal
scanners, facial contour or voice recognition. 

It may be a saving grace for his company, which has had a number of
financial problems recently, including getting delisted from the Nasdaq
and laying off most of its employees. 

Argenbright said the number of customers in some stage of the sales
process has grown from 200 #151; which took the previous 12 months to
nail down #151; to 270 to 300 since Sept.  11. 

The question remains of how long this awareness will last. 

"Something bad happens, we say 'We better get more secure,' and then 45
days later we are back to not updating our files again," said John
Pescatore, an Internet-security research director at Connecticut-based
Gartner. 

And the biggest network security attacks, like the Code Red or Nimda
virus, are easy to prevent by downloading software updates. 

"People write very long, very big books about security," says IDC's
Christiansen.  "But the simple answer is that in most cases, the systems
aren't patched to prevent known security problems.  Most of the threats
are based on known security problems.  That's one very simple solution."
Pian Chan can be reached at 206-464-2958 or schanωeattletimes.com. 
Tricia Duryee can be reached at 206-464-3283 or
tduryeeωeattletimes.com.  GRAPHIC: photo; Betty Udesen / The Seattle
Times: David Wetherall is chief technology officer at Asta Networks,
which develops devices that detect anomalies and intrusions in networks. 


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