The internet brings plenty of benefits to the world, including gross domestic product (GDP) growth via broadband, e-banking, online collaborative platforms and the promise of a global supply chain. However, according to Hathaway Global Strategies president Melissa Hathaway, few are considering the negative impacts that ICT investments have on GDP.
Read more: IT security costs countries more than gained: Report
Should governments be taking an active role in developing and enforcing infosec standards? In my opinion the answer is an unequivocal ‘no’. It should most certainly should be left to the experienced and qualified professionals who actually know the requirements. Security professionals can more effectively implement any standards without being tied up in a legislative debate, which takes an inordinate amount of time. Because they are elected, legislators are typically far from security savvy.
Read more: Government's Role in Information Security: Leave it to the Experts
That is one prominent finding contained in research produced recently by HP TippingPoint DVLabs, the SANS Institute and Qualys Research Labs on threats that occurred across the Internet from January to June 2010.
The 2010 Top Cyber Security Risks Report, focused on four areas. One is that Web applications are prolonged and persistent targets in enterprises, not only because they can be corrupted, but also because people are downloading corrupted Web apps at extremely high rates while at work. And if the applications are legitimate, users aren’t necessarily updating them or taking note of vulnerabilities that can be exploited.
Read more: Web Apps and Governments Are Most Cyber-Attacked in 2010