Feds Are Biggest Cybercrime Victims

A new study from Trusted Strategies, an IT security consulting firm, has found that the government has suffered more from Internet-related crimes than any other industry over the last 7 years. The study of all publicly-available Justice Department-prosecuted cybercrimes concludes that more than 80 percent of all cyberatacks, which end up costing an average of $3 million per case, could have been prevented if the organizations had verified the identity of computers connecting to their networks and accounts in addition to checking user IDs and passwords.

The report's author, Bill Bosen, said that many of the attacks against government agencies were politically motivated, citing Drug Enforcement Administration Web sites as a frequent target of hackers. Bosen said that an attack such as the one carried out against the Federal Executive Board Web sites administered by the Office of Personnel Management could easily cost an agency $500,000 or more. He said that most organizations spend their money blocking viruses and spyware, but he maintained that most of the damage occurs when users log into an organization's computer systems.--Daniel Pulliam