Wednesday 23rd March 2005
Internet security threatens UK firms
Britain’s mass migration to broadband has delivered a wealth of business benefits. Yet in recent weeks the technology’s darker side has come increasingly to the fore, courtesy of a series of damning security reports. Latest research from internet security firm Symantec provided cause for particular concern. The majority of spam emails are sent from personal computers with high-speed web connections, which – unbeknown to their owners – have been hijacked by hackers. According to Symantec’s latest Internet Security Threat Report, the UK is now home to more of these ‘zombie’ PCs than any other country. Some 25.2 per cent of all infected machines reside in the UK, a figure that exceeds even the US (24.6 per cent) and dwarfs the total in third-placed China (7.8 per cent). For Symantec, the rapid rise of the UK’s broadband market has been key to these increasing security fears. ‘Unfortunately, new broadband customers may not be fully aware of the additional safety precautions that need to be taken into account when using an always-on high-speed internet connection,’ Symantec’s Nigel Beighton warned. ‘Education still remains the number one challenge’, particularly with regard to the additional anti-virus systems, firewalls and operating system security patches that should be installed. Meanwhile, the receipt of spam email continues to cause considerable problems for many SMEs. In a recent report, e-security firm Postini concluded that businesses with fewer than 100 staff members receive an average of 35 spam emails per user each day. As such, they are affected far more than larger companies: who typically boast more comprehensive security systems and skilled IT staff. As if this wasn’t bad enough more web gloom arrived from the University of Nottingham, whose survey revealed that ‘a total and permanent internet meltdown’ would be catastrophic for over half of the UK’s SMEs, such is business’s reliance on the technology.
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