Security on the mainframe is very well developed because of the time it has been around, so it's difficult to crack mainframe security measures,' says Dodwell. Unix, as a more open environment, is a different case altogether. Although security has improved with time, it is still not as good as for mainframes. And Windows NT is not much better - it has a reputation of having little security because it is so new. There is a third type of hacking danger - insider attacks by a company's own employees.
Experts agree there is no way yet to render a system totally foolproof.
But there are measures that organisations can adopt to make their systems secure enough to deter hackers. If an attack does take place, a system should be secure enough to enable a company to pick up the incident immediately and act quickly to prevent a return visit. One of the biggest problems is that security experts are often not called in until after the horse has bolted. Companies think that if it hasn't happened to them yet, it's not going to,' he explains. A few other precautionary measures should be enough to safeguard most corporate systems.