This study into IT security at 80 of the world's top banks by Deloitte & Touche finds that many financial firms are worried about the increased sophistication of threats against their computer systems.
The subject of cyber attacks has traditionally been rife with myths, such as, attacks are an uncommon and infrequent occurrence, they are almost exclusively the work of juvenile hackers, and they are perpetrated predominantly by insiders rather than by people from outside the company. While these myths may have been true in a less sophisticated world of computer technology, they are no longer true today.
In total, 39% of bank respondents to the Deloitte & Touche survey acknowledged that their systems had been compromised in some way within the last year, with the majority of attacks perpetrated by external agents.
Most banks have increased their IT security budgets in an effort to deal with the threat. Deloitte & Touche estimates that by the end of 2004, 78% of the financial institutions in the survey will have rolled out PKI, 70% will have incorporated smart cards, and 29% will have deployed biometrics in some form.
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