{"id":21646,"date":"2011-06-10T10:13:26","date_gmt":"2011-06-10T14:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.investmentu.com\/?p=20183"},"modified":"2011-06-10T10:13:26","modified_gmt":"2011-06-10T14:13:26","slug":"the-growing-need-for-cyber-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/2011\/06\/10\/the-growing-need-for-cyber-security\/","title":{"rendered":"The Growing Need for Cyber Security"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Growing Need for Cyber Security<\/a><\/p>\n

by Tony D’Altorio<\/a>, Investment U<\/em> Research
\nFriday, June 10, 2011<\/p>\n

There have been a number of shocking events over the past year and a half in the world of cyber security.<\/p>\n

Some of the events include: mass breaches of consumer information at Sony <\/strong>(NYSE: SNE<\/a>) and elsewhere, the Stuxnet worm’s stealthy attack on the Iranian nuclear program, the security breach at defense contractor Lockheed Martin <\/strong>(NYSE: LMT<\/a>) and the Chinese electronic break-in at Google <\/strong>(Nasdaq: GOOG<\/a>).<\/p>\n

These events led U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to comment recently, “Cyber crime threatens the security of our systems as well as the integrity of our markets.”<\/p>\n

Such breaches of security have forced a broad recognition that, despite the difficulties, all those using the net must accept cyber security as part of their mission.<\/p>\n

Cyber Intrusions Accepted As The New Normal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cyber intrusions are fast becoming the norm at even the world’s most technologically sophisticated companies. This surprisingly includes some companies that have cyber security<\/a> as their main mission.<\/p>\n

One such example is the problem this year at RSA, the security company owned by EMC <\/strong>(NYSE: EMC<\/a>). This problem prompted the National Security Agency to warn that RSA’s SecurID keys, with fast-changing numeric passwords, should no longer be sufficient to grant access to critical infrastructure. The compromised security keys were involved in the May hacker attack of Lockheed <\/strong>Martin.<\/p>\n

Security breaches are also becoming more wider-reaching. And are not just one-time assaults like the attack on Sony, which revealed details on 100 million users of its online gaming networks.<\/p>\n

Consumers’ computers are increasingly at risk directly from virus infections that are undetected by standard security software and that do more harm than their predecessors.<\/p>\n

The fastest growing types of infections install software that records keystrokes, including logins and passwords. Then the data is whisked off to overseas criminal gangs that make use of consumers’ personal information.<\/p>\n

Two Fast-Growing Phenomena Compounding Cyber Threats <\/strong><\/p>\n

Compounding and uniting these cyber threats are two fast-growing phenomena:<\/p>\n