Survey Finds Internal IT Attacks on Rise

A new survey has found that large financial institutions across the globe say the new trends of "phishing" and "pharming" are now the top threats they are facing.

According to an article in Canada's Ottawa Sun, the 2005 Global Security Survey was released late last week by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. The top threats, phishing and pharming, are two new additions to top security threats faced in the past year. The survey says the practices, defined as using bogus e-mails and websites to get consumers to disclose sensitive information, highlight the human factor as a new weakness in the security chain.

"Financial institutions have made great progress in deploying technological solutions to protect themselves from direct external threats, however, the rise and increased sophistication of attacks which target customers and internal attacks indicate that there is a new threat that has to be addressed," Adel Melek, global leader of Deloitte's IT risk management and security services, told the paper. "Strong customer authentication, training and increased awareness can play a significant role in narrowing this gap."

The article says the "shift to internal attacks and tactics that exploit human behaviour as opposed to technological loopholes can be explained by the improved utilization of IT security technologies."

The survey also found that 35 percent of respondents encountered attacks from inside their organization within the past 12 months, compared to 26 percent from external sources.

To read the full article, click here: http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/OttawaSun/Business/2005/06/23/1100625-sun.html