More Bad News for E-tailers Related Stories Half of small and midsize businesses that implement and supervise their own network security will fall prey to a successful cybercrime by 2003, according to new research released Tuesday by Gartner Group. More than 60 percent of those firms will not even detect that their systems have been compromised, Gartner said. Smaller firms are particularly vulnerable to malicious attacks, such as the hacking of a company site or the spreading of viruses, because they are unable to recruit personnel with a proven track record in deploying beefed-up security measures, said the research group. In addition, smaller businesses often use regional Internet service providers, which provide unknown levels of protection and place companies at greater risk of an attack.
Defensive action is required to protect the enterprise from unauthorized and malicious users.
Increased spending on security does not in and of itself seem to be helping solve the problem of cybercrime. Another study released last week, by Information Security magazine, said that cybercrime is skyrocketing despite increased spending on security measures. The study also found that more cybercrime is committed by those within a given company than by outsiders. The potential impact of the tools, if deployed, could be most acutely felt during the upcoming holiday season, warn analysts. DDoS attacks can bring down a network by overwhelming target machines with large amounts of traffic.