2005 a Bad Year For Security

Greyfox writes "According to CNN, 2005 was a record year for security breaches, with cybercrime netting an estimated $105 billion and the Department of Homeland Security getting its cybersecurity budget cut 7%, to $16 Million. Apparently the government, just like private industry, doesn't pay attention to security until something bad happens to it."

Comments

I'm interested in how they calculated this number

[antifoidulus]

$105 billion is more than the trade deficit between the US and Japan, in other words a VERY significant chunk of change. How much of this damage was "real" as oppossed to existing in name only? How did they manage to calculate such a number, and what is the overall effect on the economy? Who are the real winners and losers in this battle?

Frustrating but not surprising, really.

[Parallax Blue]

I'm not surprised. From what I hear, viruses/trojans/cyber attacks are increasingly done for profit only and not fame. And boy, money does talk... in this case, it's 105 billion doing the talking. And t3h h4x0rz are listening.

Meanwhile, a 7% drop in budget for cybersecurity under the dept. of Homeland Security! To how much? A billion, you say? Nope... 16 million. Ouch. I don't think that's nearly enough money... not by a longshot. And what about terrorist attacks on our nations internet infrastructure? I'm sure that's been considered by the terrorists.

Doesn't sound like a good situation to me, not at all..

-PlxBlu

Re:I'm interested in how they calculated this numb

[gbobeck]

"How did they manage to calculate such a number"

Its actually fairly easy to calculate this number.

First, pick a LARGE random number. This number should be roughly equivalent to the biggest number you can think of. Next, multiply this number by 4. Finally, divide by a suitable power of 10 so that the number doesn't seem too impossible.

More seriously...

I recommend people to check out attrition.org's Statistics section ( http://attrition.org/errata/statistics/introductio n.html )

One section I feel obligated to quote is:

"One of the largest things media outlets use to back their claims are statistics. It is absolutely incredible how many times a media outlet will quote a statistic and not credit where it came from. Further, they are fond of taking creative liberty with how they quote the article to suit their needs.

These stats cover damage to systems, percentage of intrusions, and everything else. There are simply too many instances of suspect statistics as they relate to the computer security industry to read, match and provide analysis of them all." (from http://attrition.org/errata/stats.html )