Big Bucks!

Most of this article just re-hashs things well talked about here on ao but i though these dollar figures were note worthy

http://www.washtimes.com/business/20...5349-9778r.htm

Computer viruses, worms set costly Internet record


February was the worst month ever for cyber-security as a record number of computer viruses and worms attacked the Internet, flooding in-boxes with unwanted e-mail, crippling Web sites and costing businesses up to $83 billion worldwide.

Security specialists reported hundreds of new viruses and worms during the month, including several new e-mail worms that caused significant financial hardship to computer users and businesses.

Internet attacks in February caused an estimated $68 billion to $83 billion in damages worldwide, British computer-security firm mi2g reported. The damage estimates are about $50 billion higher than in January, previously the most costly month on record.

As bad as it may sound....I call it job security.

I wonder what the cost of spyware/malware (hijacking progs.) would add to that? I'm sure they are figuring man hours into the costs, so malware probably is an equal amount.
I read a couple of articals on the cost of just spam to buisnesses, and that was extrondiarily high by itself. If you add up the costs of all three......is it even cost effective to have your buisness connected to the internet anymore?

You do have to wonder though how it is that they come up with a figure of $83bn, based on mi2g up to $133bn have been lost due to internet attacks in the past two months, so if we multiply this by 6 we have a potential figure of $798 bn for the year. So, based upon this companies should be dropping like flies due to internet attacks as more money is being lost to viruses and hacking then the current US trade deficit.

Sounds a little fishy to me....

I don`t know anyone at of the companies I know who was badly affect by any of these, so who is generating this figure???? But you can pay mi2g to have a full copy of the report if you want to know (approx $40 per report).

While Mi2g are hardly the most "trustable" and "upstanding" Internet "reporters" you have to realize that in terms of _real_ money worldwide a billion dollars is chump change.

I spend 2 hours a day, at least, administering my security systems...... over a year that's a few thousand it costs my employer...... multiply that by everyone who does the same and we are in the billions worldwide. then take into account those that have to do the cleanup - luckily my systems have avoided large scale cleanup - and a few billion here and there isn't much......

It sounds a lot though and I'll take 1% in my bank account quite happily..... ;)

Economics = you owe the bank's $1.000.000 and YOU are in trouble.
you owe the bank's $1.000.000.000 and the BANK is in trouble.

and the old saying of a $1.000.000.000 here and a $1.000.000.000 there, and pretty soon you get to REAL money ????
didn't the US have a TRILLION $ deficit ?? a billion billion !!
out there money has no real meaning, and for a report the bigger figure will get bigger headlines, but won't make ANY difference to the way that the game is played.
And if you don't know the rules to this game, or realise that it is just a game, then you, like me are just at the bottom of this particular pile.

Foxley: Don't forget..... the Yanks like to get to a billion quicker...... It's a prestige thing..... a billion is only 1000 million..... So it's chump change again...<LOL>

Life is a game.... games have rules.... you can play by them, you can play against them or you can "play with" them..... In either of the latter cases you'd better know why, what, where and when to do it or you lose the game......

Rules are "for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools", (author unknown to me).........

I like "playing with" them....... Sometimes I get screwed..... It's a learning experience..... ;)

Hey,

It's a bit like trying to cost a war IMHO.............the ships will still be sailing, the tanks running, the planes flying and the squaddies getting paid and fed?

Just because they are not killing anyone does not mean that they are "free"

This is very much a marginal costing exercise?............and when you are up to your neck in muck an bullets, bean counting isn't a premium skill?

Sure, you have to spend on security, but you cannot allocate that cost to a specific incident?

Just my £2 zillion :D

I think there are just so many factors that come into play that no figure can be reliable, for example our the hours spent by folks working on this being calculated based on a US hourly or the rate someone in Bangalore is being paid? its just impossible to figure it our, is lost revenue caused by users not being able to buy something online? in which case avergage revenue figures are needed, etc etc

Tigershark, isn`t that couple of hours a day part of your job? or if not is that spent solely in the quest to erradicate a virus infection? Mi2g are saying it cost $60 bn to deal with the viruses in one month alone, which over a year does add up to a lot of cash.

I guess i just don`t put too much stock in their figures as they just seem to be creating lots of FUD .

Ronin: While my couple of hours a day aren't spent entirely addresseing the needs of the AV systems etc. they are required maintenance of systems to ensure the security and integrity of my network which, if I failed to carry out those tasks, would lead to losses that significantly exceed the cost of the maintenance. If I didn't have to do that maintenance because the Internet was a nice warm fuzzy place where everyone loved each other then I could spend more time doing things to make my users happy, (or not pi$$ing them off by cutting their Internet connection for constant surfing of dubious web sites for fun..... ;)).

So, in the overall picture, my time spent maintaining my systems can, quite rightly, be added to the cost assessment mi2g is putting forward.

I think that Tiger is onto something here:

Quote:

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they are required maintenance of systems to ensure the security and integrity of my network which, if I failed to carry out those tasks, would lead to losses that significantly exceed the cost of the maintenance.

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I detect the cries for help of a fellow someone who has to argue security budgets through bean counters and committees ;)

My point is that I learn from the media that burglary costs X per annum, shoplifting costs Y and
armed robbery costs Z. Now, none of those values include the cost of locks, bars, surveillance systems, alarms, the police and so on? So why should malware and intrusion PREVENTION costs be included in the actual cost of incidents. I do not believe that most corporations have the ability to cost a particular incident?

On the other hand:

/Set paranoidometer to full scale deflection ::hide-beh

Mig21 or whatever they call themselves have corporate subscribers?................produce skiddie doom and gloom reports?......................Chairman can report crap results to the stockholders/shareholders, and blame it on the criminally irresponsible skiddies that they are raising in their own homes..........Oh Well, at least my cat won't get blamed this time .................But if I were to try to use one of those reports as a budget justification??????

/Deactivate paranoidometer ::hide-beh

Another scenario:

There are no malware incidents for one year............how much did viruses cost.......well I would say zero, because there weren't any? but the preventative measures were there? and they certainly cost.............hell, it is almost like the nuclear deterrent argument?......we haven't had a World War since.....but we still build and perfect them...at a cost to the taxpayer?

A criminal psychologist friend once told me that it does not matter what the punishment is, how blunt the chainsaw or whatever, the thing that prevents crime is physical/intellectual inability and the certainty of being caught, I think that she had a point? So if you run a tight ship, they will stay away, or you will keep them out...........predators don't attack the most powerful?

We live in a dangerous World, and must protect ourselves?.........that costs, just like health insurance?

Cheers

I agree, these figures are pure BS, companies don't bother/scrimp with security maintenance they should be doing, then they get screwed and chock expenses up to viruses/worms. They make their budget look better and then use the computer criminals as excuses for all that "extra" security money. If they were doing what they were supposed to in the first place most of these 'catastrophes' wouldn't occur.

This is the equivalent of a store leaving their doors unlocked and then blaming teenage theifs as the reason for the expense of a new alarm system.