2008 promises to be a bad year for computer users, especially those who use laptops and those in small businesses. Hackers are fast being replaced by organised criminal gangs and hostile state intelligence services, who are using the expertise of IT professionals to try to break into your systems to steal data. The weakest links are often inexperienced workstation users, or those who like to forward “funny” emails, laptop users, those who use home PCs for work purposes, holders of flash drives which can allow malicious programs to jump from PC to PC avoiding corporate firewalls, and small business subcontractors where much of your confidential information may reside.The UK Information Commissioner has warned that in cases of ID data theft, lack of awareness of the threats and inadequate countermeasures will not be a defence to either corporate or individual prosecution.
The US Government has set up an excellent Web site to warn computer users of the growing threats, and you can subscribe to a range of alerts:
http://onguardonline.gov/certalerts.html
Contact Nicky for more information on the forthcoming Information and IT Security Workshop, 7 April 2008.
