Cyberattacks Still Frequent, but Slowing

Riptech clients report 28 percent increase in attacks, but cyberterrorists keep quiet.

Steve Chiger, Medill News Service

WASHINGTON--Attacks on public and private computer networks still are mounting, but cases of cyberterrorism are not, says a new report by Virginia-based Internet security firm Riptech.

During the past six months, cyberattacks on a sample of Riptech clientele have increased 28 percent to more than 180,000 incidents, the group said Monday. In the previous six-month period, the company reported an increase of 79 percent.

"I think it just relates to the overall growth of the Internet," says Elad Yoran, executive vice president and study coauthor. "Corporations aren't doing everything they can in order to protect themselves." Yoran did not want to speculate on why the rate decreased so markedly.

Riptech differentiated cyberterrorism attacks from other attacks as malicious online activity originating in countries suspected of harboring terrorists.

Favorite Targets

The study found that public companies are the likeliest to be attacked. The highest percentage of incidents occur in the energy, financial service, and high-tech industries.

Most attacks come from within the United States, the study says. The report turns up little evidence of increased activity in regions of the world suspected of harboring terrorists..

Despite the increase in cyberattacks, companies seem to be better equipped to handle them than they were last year. According to the report, only half as many companies suffered a probable or actual security breach than in the previous six-month period..

Nevertheless, Yoran admits that the data, based on about 400 of the company's clients, represents a "best-case scenario." All of the companies in the survey have a security company--Riptech.

Though the number of cyberattacks has increased in recent years, definitive statistics are hard to come by, says Christopher Painter, a deputy chief of the computer crime and intellectual property section at the Department of Justice.

Part of the reason may be that companies are loath to report breaches in their networks. Many companies keep quiet, fearing that publicity will damage consumer confidence, says Patrice Rapalus, director of the Computer Security Institute.

Rapalus's group released its own survey of about 500 computer security practitioners in April. It found that 90 percent of respondents detected a security breach over the past year, though only 34 percent reported those incidents to law enforcement.

Cyberterrorism's Threat

The Riptech study comes amid a flurry of government concerns that terrorist attacks could be conducted over the Internet.

Clamor over cybersecurity has increased in recent weeks as the drive to create a Department of Homeland Security intensifies. Noting that online defense was not explicitly addressed in President Bush's security proposal in June, lobbying groups, as well as the House Science Committee, have urged creating a separate cybersecurity division.

Prompted by the government's worries, Riptech isolated attacks coming from countries suspected of terrorist activity, but it found that these countries accounted for less than 1 percent of cyberattacks between January and June.

"We have not found any direct, demonstrable evidence of terrorism," Yoran says.

To some, the findings were not a huge surprise.

"There's a great deal of hype that surrounds the whole issue of cyberterrorism," Rapalus says. "I don't think that people are looking at it in a really focused way. I think it's a bit of a knee-jerk reaction."