The sudden burst of network traffic overloads the Web servers and the networks they're connected to, slowing performance and eventually crashing the site. In February, DoS attacks knocked out service for five of the 10 most popular Web sites, including Amazon, Yahoo and eBay. A hacker is anyone who gains unauthorized access to computer resources for the purpose of stealing information or sabotaging systems. The Internet only makes a hacker's task easier, which means that the number of hackers will grow. Hackers may be employees stealing proprietary information to sell to competitors, pranksters defacing your Web site, or criminals capturing credit-card data or illegally transferring funds.
Money is no longer in banks, but in bits.
And it's easy to steal bits and quickly move them around the world. That's because insiders often know how to access the most valuable data. Data-center security goes beyond a simple lock and key, informing the overall way the facility is designed and operated. Likewise, stolen laptops and PDAs are a common and costly problem, not only because they're expensive to replace but also because of the proprietary information that may be stored on them. The most common form of security breach, a virus is a program or piece of code that is loaded onto an organization's computers without the organization's knowledge and runs against its wishes.