Guardian hack highlights broadband security issue
Guardian hack highlights broadband security issue
By Tim Bisley (Tue, 27th October 2009)
A recent incident involving the computer database of a national newspaper has highlighted the fact that broadband security is something that all types of internet users need to invest in, according to one industry expert.
In comments that follow news that around 500,000 peoples' information has been stolen from the Guardian Jobs website this week, a spokesman for gateway and unified web solutions firm Finjan said there are online threats that can strike anywhere at any time.
Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technology officer, said some of the main ways in which major companies can leave themselves vulnerable to hackers is through structure query language injection attacks, which involve criminals manipulating different parameters to infiltrate a database.
He explained that another form of crime involves not compromising the site, but instead targeting the credentials of its server on a remote basis, which can be done by installing malicious code and stealing access next time the user logs in.
"It is like coming in through the side door," Mr Ben-Itzhak added.
The expert went on to say that it was likely these type of attacks would be useful for people looking to instigate phishing scams or auction personal details for others in order to create false identifies, something he admitted there was a "big market for".
Mr Ben-Itzhak concluded by saying that although there was no magic solution to combating these types of hack, the incident with the Guardian had highlighted the importance of at least attempting to protect against more common threats.
"The solution is for the site owner to protect the web site with web application firewalls and protect their server with database security products. And also to make sure you have web security protection to protect your internal network," he said.
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