The Hindu Business Line : Now, corporate espionage a real threat

Ahmedabad, Jan. 4 Business organisations need to induct integrated security technologies to safeguard their operations as “hacking” for corporate espionage now constitutes a real threat, Mr Naveen Agrawal, Executive Director for Advisory Services, KPMG, said here .

Addressing a seminar on cyber security, he said the risk was more because of shared computers, wide-area networks, consultants, wireless networks and employees working at home. The event was organised by Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) in collaboration with The Indus Entrepreneurs, Ahmedabad.

Corporations need to be more aware of the dangers from hacking because the phenomenon, which until now was only disrupting operations, is moving on to damaging trust and reputations, he said, adding that cyber security was now a critical issue because of Net-enabled connectivity, wireless networking and mobile computing.

“Mobile phone attacks will become more prevalent as mobile devices become smarter and more connected,” he cautioned. He also predicted that parasitic malware or viruses that modify existing files on a disk will make a comeback and the use of computer programs that perform automated tasks will increase as a tool favoured by hackers.

Mr Agrawal said: “We have multiple levels and multiple assets to protect. But the hacker needs just one chance. The security breaches through “virus or malicious code” globally were over 70 per cent. Computer hackers or terrorists were the main security breachers globally. Organisations, however, were not proactive to mitigating risk either because it was too costly to mitigate or because it was too large to manage and there was no guarantee of success.

Urgent need

But with events like terror attacks, financial meltdown, mergers and acquisitions, attrition and job loss shaping tomorrow, there was urgent need to evolve and execute corporate security strategy encompassing every wing of an organisation. To successfully execute an integrated security strategy, organisations would be required to focus on enhancing skill sets for optimal utilisation of technologies, maintaining compliance regulations . Actions would be required on screening vendor, contractor employee, collaborative intelligence, crisis management and physical security and technology profile.

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Seminar on cyber security