The Internet Virus--Another issue

[James Borynec]

It seems to me that everybody is assuming that the major security threat
is some cracker deciding to show off his ego?  I think that there are
other, probably greater, risks at hand.  Firstly, there is industrial
espionage:  We only hear about the 16 year old kids who attack the
net with blunt instruments.  Does anybody know anything about the
incidence of industrial espionage (possibly by (gasp!) foreign nationals).
I would guess that if they are at all professional they would likely
not be caught for many a year.
 
 A second danger is a modern version of Arson.  What if some unsavory  
character decided that life would be much more profitable if his chief
competitor's computers were (figuratively) burnt to the ground.  The
chances of not being caught are pretty high.

I think that the major reason that these things haven't happened all
much in the past is because of the relative scarcity of expertise.
This is changing FAST!  Good ol Obnoxious has a point - We must
take action NOW to prevent Billions of dollars in damage in the
future.

James Borynec utgpu!bnr-vpa!bnr-di!borynec
Bell Northern Research   borynec at bnr.ca.bitnet