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

Whats the point....

[majjj]

2005 also saw the largest use of computers on the network... so as a result the crime-rate onthe internet too go up.

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?

Re:DHS Cybersecurity?

[hankdmoose]

They have XxOsama69xX on their buddy lists... what more do you want?

Lol eh what

[SmallFurryCreature]

Even for a CNN article this is kinda, ehm, short? They quote figures but with absolutly no basis. 105 billion? WOW that is a huge wad of cash. But globally? Restricted to the US? 55 million americans affected that is what like 1 in 5? Again WOW.

As for the department of Homeland Security getting a budget cut. Well is it even its task? Isn't credit card fraud something for the FBI to tackle? And social security number fraud would probably fall under either your social security agency or the IRS.

The securing of military IT would be a task for the military and I think the NSA does something with it as well. The US seems to have so many agencies to keep it secure that I cannot remember them all.

So is that 16 million perhaps the budget for the departments of homeland security OWN security? Do they really have to keep the entire US of A safe with that money or just their own network.

I like a panic story as much as the next guy but at least give me some basis and do not just trow some random numbers around.

What exactly is lumped into that 105 billion dollar figure. Every bad check? Counterfit credit cards? Stolen Half-Life keys? And whose job is it to keep us safe? Army? NSA? CIA? FBI? Local police? Department of Homeland Security? Or more likely, all of them for different parts of it?

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 )