Government, Industry More Vulnerable to Cyberthreats

A new report has found that government and industry are more vulnerable to data theft and security breaches than it has been in years, showing a drastic change in the cybersecurity landscape during 2005.

According to an article by Michael Arnone on the Federal Computer Week website, the assessment is another part of the SANS Institute’s 2005 update of its 20 Most Critical Internet Security Vulnerabilities report. As reported in the November 30th Continuity e-Guide, the institute previously warned that the spread of Internet technologies into phones and handheld computers will complicate information security risks over the next five years.

Alan Paller, the institute’s director of research, told Arnone that in 2005, cybercriminals focused on attacking client applications and network operating systems other than Microsoft Windows.

According to the report, 10 of the top vulnerabilities are in cross-platform applications installed on millions of systems. “They include backup, antivirus and database software, in addition to media players,” Arnone says. “Three affected network operating systems control routers, switches and other devices that form the Internet's backbone.”

In the past year, the report found, the new types of attacks represented 65 percent of the worst threats, up from none in 2004.

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