Security Breaches Surge Over Past Two Years

[Julian Assange]

> Many of you will have read the recent report of the FBI claiming
> security breaches rose by 250% over the past couple of years, well the
> following is from a US lawyers listserve...
> 
>   ------- Forwarded message follows -------
> > >   Over the past two years, FBI cases involving computer intrusion have
> > >   increased over 250 percent, said Dick Watson, assistant special agent
> > >   in charge of the White Collar Crime Program, in Boston.
> > >
> > >Hmm. CERT reports a substantial //decrease// in reported computer
> > >intrusions from 1996-1997. We could reasonably conclude that people are
> > >becoming more security-conscious.

Security consciousness is likely to *raise* the number of reported intrusions.

In my view, two things, primarily, are responsible for the //decrease// reported by CERT.

	(1) CERT is becoming progressively marginalised by other players.

	(2) Low skill attacks are so common, they are presumed to be par-for-the-course
    	    in relation to internet connectivity. System admins realise that their Cliff-Stoll
	    playing days are over, and the best strategy is to minimise 
	    escalation and consequential loss, resulting not from the hacker-attack per-se,
	    but the response to it.

What that FBI figure doesn't tell you, is that the rise is in-line with the growth of the
network itself. Stating, for instance, that the number of murders in Chicago rose 250% from
1890 to 1933 is mischievous, if the number of people also rose 250%.

Cheers,
Julian.