Wake up and smell the cyber crime

It's eight years since Time magazine ran a story 'Terror on the Internet', that informed the world about the evolving dangers of cybercrime. Today, hundreds of alerts from media, governments, analysts and security experts continue to come about possible cybercrimes and yet, despite increasing knowledge and awareness, the question remains the same: how are we protecting ourselves.

Not very well. With three-quarters of business yet to install firewalls and security apparatus in their networks, one could cynically say that the world needs to be told of the definition of protection. The Internet research firm, Garter, predicted in 2000 that cybercrime would grow by as much as 1000 percent by 2004. The ground reality is that we are just as vulnerable now as we were then.

-The Statesman October 28, 2002