Computer hackers are keeping up with the times and are putting an increasingly technology-dependent world at risk, the chairman of leading US-based IT security firm Mcafee said Monday.
"The telecom infrastructure - whether it be routing in India, UK, Germany or US - is at risk, " George Samenuk told a business conference in Bombay.
"When cellphones go down, it is 10 times as worse because the whole world revolves around cellphones nowadays," he said.
"One major telecom company had 800 mega bytes of their source code stolen. A large retail chain could not operate their credit card automation on a Saturday because of a virus attack and lost millions of dollars."
Samenuk said software could now automatically block out 90 percent of attacks, but other viruses were still getting through.
He recommended complying with normal safety procedures such as keeping long passwords and frequently changing them and not allowing unauthorised people to access organisations' networks.
But he said the increased reliance on technology for sensitive information presented challenges as hackers often posed as banks inquiring for personal details.
"We have had tens of thousands of people who had money stolen from their accounts. So this is another major concern," Samenuk said.
"As many, many more people are switching to using mobile phones for e-mails and tracking stock quotations, we are seeing the propensity of attacks increase," he added.
Comments
Comments are closed.