News that The New York Times computer database had been hacked into last month by a 21-year-old unemployed high school drop-out may have stunned employees at the venerable New York daily. But security experts weren't surprised. The computer break-in was unique only in that it was widely reported.. . .
News that The New York Times computer database had been hacked into last month by a 21-year-old unemployed high school drop-out may have stunned employees at the venerable New York daily. But security experts weren't surprised. The computer break-in was unique only in that it was widely reported. Businesses lose an estimated $10 billion or more annually due to security breaches in their computer systems, according to the Computer Security Institute, a San Francisco-based association of information security professionals. But you aren't likely to hear about them. Companies rarely go public with news of a computer break-in for fear of scaring off customers or damaging their brand name.

Jeff Drake, executive vice president and co-founder of Access360, a privately-held security-software company based in Irvine, Calif., says a high-ranking executive at one of the companies he worked with once admitted to the press that Access360's security audit revealed his company's Web site had 80,000 invalid users IDs in its system. "Needless to say, he is no longer allowed to talk to the press," says Drake. "Companies are not interested in going public with this information."

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