Losses attributed to security breaches in the United States are trending down. Losses from intellectual-property theft plummeted from $170.8 million in 2001 to $70.2 million in 2002, according to the eighth annual Computer Security Institute’s CSI/ FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey. The estimated damage for nearly all security breaches studied, with the exception of denial-of-service attacks, fell precipitously. Have security experts finally figured out how to block hackers? Costs from IT theft have fallen not because theft of such data necessarily has decreased, says Eric Ogren, a senior analyst at the Yankee Group. Rather, he says, companies are getting better at devising more realistic valuations of their data and have toned down the estimated value of much of their intellectual property. Another reason for the drop in losses: better sharing of security knowledge, better exchange of best practices, and better tools to combat or investigate security breaches. “The business world has gotten better at security intelligence,” Ogren says. “That’s one thing that will drive costs down as it’s easier to identify the problem and the antidote.” Full Story
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