Databases a soft touch for hackers

Source: Vnunet

More than 10 per cent of corporate databases connected to the internet have suffered security breaches in the last year, according to new research. A survey of 750 corporates developing databases conducted by US firm Evans Data found that, against a backdrop of intensified industry efforts to create a more 'trustworthy' computing environment, more than one in 10 corporate databases connected to the web had a breach of security in 2001. According to the report, most of the breaches consisted of malicious viruses or successful hacking attempts.
More than 40 per cent of banking/financial services companies reported incidences of unauthorised access and data corruption, while 18 per cent of medical/healthcare and telecoms firms reported similar breaches.