In these uncertain times with the hi-tech economy floundering, ruthless terrorists undermining world peace and increasing hack attacks and viral outbreaks there’s a growing sense of insecurity.

While most companies have security alarms to warn of physical break-ins many have neglected to secure their computer systems from prying eyes and corruption. While they may consider their information extremely sensitive or confidential surveys suggests up to half of firms despite having been hit by net nasties or hackers fail to protect themselves with intrusion detection tools, firewalls or encryption.

The worldwide economic impact of virus attacks was estimated at US$17.1 billion last year, up from US$12.1 billion in 1999, according to Computer Economics. As at August it’s estimated $ US 10.7 billion went down the toilet this year through clean-up costs and lost productivity - $US 2.6 billion in damage from the Code Red worm and $ US1.03 billion through the SirCam worm.

Computer Economics claims Code Red, which exploited a vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) software, infected more than one million servers - SirCam, a mass-mailing worm which struck in July infected more than 2.3 million users.

The mass mailing worm Nimda (admin spelled backwards) forced the shut down of many government and business systems. Another recent intruder called "Vote" arrives in your inbox with the subject line: "Peace between America and Islam" sending itself to your email addresses and overwrites all HTML files to include the text "America in a few days we will show you what we can do. It's our turn. Zacker is sorry for you." It then reformats your hard drive on re-booting.

These and others viruses and worms have mainly propagated over the Internet by exploiting holes in Microsoft's IIS, Internet Explorer (IE) browser, Outlook Express and Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems.

Microsoft recommends installing numerous patches and service packs immediately on their release, and for organisations to be more diligent in managing their systems. Gartner Group however says endless updates and patches increase the cost of ownership and recommends companies swap to a more secure platform until Microsoft gets its act together, possibly around the end of 2002.

The information security services market reached $US 6.7 billion in 2000 and according to IDC will leap to $US 21 billion by 2005, growing at a compound annual rate of about 25.5 percent.

IDC senior analyst Allan Carey says the growing corporate appetite for remote LAN, Internet, extranet/intranet, and wireless-access services will drive the need for advanced information security services as technologies for circumventing network security systems continue to keep pace with the technologies designed to defend against them.

Securityl remains one of the biggest single issues hindering the heath and growth of online commerce, particularly on a consumer level. A study released by Gartner in August says 86 per cent of US adults have serious concerns about online banking and brokerage transactions. The report Privacy and Security: The Hidden Growth Strategy, based on two consumer surveys of over 7000 adults, revealed a growing paranoia about how secure social security and credit card numbers are on-line and the privacy of personal information such as income and assets.

The study found virus invasions, while not related to on-line security, feed consumer fears about cyber-fraud and advised companies to do more to make consumers aware of their security efforts.

The problem is complicated by the very nature of business today –e-commerce often requires businesses to open up to trading partners, suppliers and distributors and to mobile and remote workers.

Having password protection, a firewall and regularly updated virus profiles may not be enough. More complex authentication is needed to protect against unauthorised access along with industrial strength utilities that guard against data modification There is no one-size fits all solution. It is becoming imperative to have a professional help assessing the risks and implementing appropriate security, business processes and recovery plans.

Without state-of-the-art detection and prevention measures supply chain and customer confidence is compromised. The challenge is to get beyond the FUD (Fear uncertainty and doubt) factor with strict internal policies and regular audits guaranteeing a clean bill of health and a reputation as a safe and secure business ally.