Do Counterfeit DVDs Smell Different From Regular DVDs?

Why We Can't Wait For A Digital Enron To Do Something About Cyber Crime

from the or-a-digital-SarbOx dept

Thu, Sep 28th 2006 1:19pm — Joseph Weisenthal

When discussing security, people tend to focus on big events, like viruses that cause havoc very quickly, or the laptop thefts at the VA. But as we mentioned recently, the real danger is in quiet, slow-moving attacks that can go undetected for a long period of time. It's for this reason that hackers who are in it for money are putting their effort into malware of this variety. And it's also the reason that an increasing number of attackers are quietly attacking small businesses, with a fewer number of potential victims. Swiping mountains of data from a major corporation is likely to raise alarms bells much quicker. Furthermore, small businesses are less likely to have advanced security in place. Some have said that nothing will happen to really fight identity theft until there's a "digital Enron", an event so calamitous that the government and corporations are moved to act. But the reality is just the opposite; there are more and more mini-disasters, and fewer of the type of attacks that might be compared to Enron.

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10 Comments

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PhysicsGuy, 28 Sep 2006 @ 1:22pm

and the telcos won't quit on their monopolies until there's an analog microsoft... oh wait...
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Sanguine Dream, 28 Sep 2006 @ 2:02pm

The only thing...
that will light a fire under the government to put more effort into preventing cyber crime is for a major attack against the government.
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- itanshi, 28 Sep 2006 @ 2:17pm
  
  Re: The only thing...
  eh many did for many years, how major you want?
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Steve E, 28 Sep 2006 @ 2:11pm

Furthermore, small businesses are less likely to have advanced security in place.

You'd be surprised (or perhaps not) just how many large corporations have dreadful security in place! In a lot of cases the smaller the company the more switched on to this type of threat.
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The Original Just Me, 28 Sep 2006 @ 5:32pm

Not gonna happen this generation
Because most of the cooters in congress don't know what 'digital' means. We are screwed for a few more years, decades is the Strom Thurmond treatment is adopted by more people.
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Jo Mamma, 28 Sep 2006 @ 6:50pm

Nothing like a war to enhance enlightenment
It'll take a war.

Cyber-war will be a prominent feature of the next conflict between major powers. Not to mention death and extinction... but that's besides the point.
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Guy, 28 Sep 2006 @ 8:35pm

it is time
i guess it's time for me to start codeing again i mean back in the day i made a virus for my dad's computer that was undetectable by windows after it was installed ( mainly b/c windows was not it's target) a little program writen to the BIOS it slowly overclocked the PC no wondering right before that computer died my dad said damn i swear this thing is running faster( we are also talking about Windows 98SE and a 200Mhz computer i very highly doubt the new mainboards would accept the old code any volunteers for me to see if it still works?
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Mitchell Allen, 29 Sep 2006 @ 11:00am

Hacking the Tail
Ever since I became aware of the phenomenon of the Long Tail, I've seen evidence of it's inherent power everywhere.

This post brings it all home: there is nothing new about hackers quietly taking over small, under-secured systems. Consumers have been plagued by viruses since the dawn of "sneakernet".

You will need an Enron-sized digital cataclysm to effect change, not because of the fact that the threat tolerance for malfeasance is set too high (which it is), but because of the self-healing nature of the Internet. With so many redundancies in the infrastructure, whole nodes can be isolated and traffic can be rerouted, and most of us won't be aware of any changes.
In addition to redundancies, you have an army of skilled troubleshooters that has, thus far, risen to every challenge thrown at it. Unless I am mistaken, there is not one single festering boil that has repelled all eradication efforts.

Wait, Internet Explorer is still around.

That is the ultimate virus.
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Matt, 1 Oct 2006 @ 5:44pm

The majority of security breaches are actually from inside large corporations. Employees are accessing confidential information, or simply stealing data for their own benefit. But of course this is much harder to track down and will be difficult to stamp out.
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Matt, 1 Oct 2006 @ 5:44pm

The majority of security breaches are actually from inside large corporations. Employees are accessing confidential information, or simply stealing data for their own benefit. But of course this is much harder to track down and will be difficult to stamp out.
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