New-age arms race: Cyber attackers pose constant computer threat.

• Author: Marks, Susan J.

A WEEK AFTER TERRORIST-GUIDED PLANES HIT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER AND THE PENTAGON IN SEPTEMBER, tens of thousands of computer networks also came under attack. The attacker was Nimda, a cyber worm that affected 450,000 computers and brought businesses to a standstill.

Nimda -- admin spelled backwards -- is another in the growing arsenal of worms, viruses and denial-of-service attacks unleashed on government, corporate and personal computers.

"Nobody out there is completely 100 percent safe and not vulnerable," says Arthur Wong, a founder and CEO of SecurityFocus, a San Mateo, Calif.-based provider of security intelligence products and services.

In the first three quarters of 2001 alone, there were more than 34,754 cyber incidents, up 53 percent from 21,756 for all of 2000 and more than triple the number for all of 1999, according to the Pittsburgh-based CERT Coordination Center. One incident refers to all related activities in which intruders use the same attack tool. All reports related to the LoveLetter worm, for example, equal a single incident, so the number of computer victims of the attack is much larger.

Attacks come in a variety of forms.

Denial-of-service involves blocking access to a site, such as by inundating it with bogus requests. A virus "infects" one or more programs, making them act abnormally and causing annoyance or outright destruction. A worm is almost identical, except that it replicates itself, enabling it to spread quickly and potentially clog networks.

These attacks can come from anywhere and be unleashed by something as simple as opening an e-mail attachment. And their victims aren't limited to businesses with a large Internet presence or to e-tailers.

LOOK INSIDE

Companies face three main cyber threats, says Mike Hager, Englewood-based vice president of network security and disaster recovery for Oppenheimer Funds Inc.:

* Outsiders trying to break into a network to steal data.

* Insiders.

* Belief by senior management that there is no threat to the company from either of the above.

More than 70 percent of intrusions come from a company's own employees, says Laura Behrens, an analyst with Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc. Ronn H. Bailey agrees. He is CEO and CTO of Las Vegas-based Vanguard Integrity Professionals, a global provider of security software, services and solutions. Its Colorado clients include Gates Rubber Co., Time Warner Cable, Lockheed Martin Corp. and the U.S. Department of the Interior. It also...