How far is our Internet business secure when there is a disaster like Hurricane Katrina or a terrorist attack on a major city? Just imagine the situation when this kind of upheaval takes place and wipes out business operation. Information systems are open to attackers, who snatch an opportunity in the chaos as firms are compelled to trust on backup operations or even pen and paper. That is when a second catastrophe happens.



Charles Palmer, CTO of security and privacy with IBM Research,

When bad stuff happens there’s chaos and panic. Everyone has procedures [to follow], but it’s not clear that people even know where they are.” “When you’re in a hurry to get back online, especially if you’re losing lots of money each minute, you’re going to do what it takes to get online.

In the mad scurry to get back online as quickly as possible, security protocols and procedures, take a back seat to recapture business stability. Moreover, cyberattacks in which valuable corporate jewels, like intellectual property, are held for biometrics, ransom and other identity-verifying techniques unsettling indispensable functions; and the surfacing of a new type of denial of service that keeps firms from communicating with their customers and halts the flow of genuine information across the Internet.



Paul Kurtz, executive director of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, a public policy and advocacy group based in Arlington, Va, says,

I wouldn’t necessarily classify natural disasters as security issues, with one caveat - out of chaos bad actors seek to take advantage,” Such behavior happened in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina when nonvictims tried to benefit from government relief funding.

Some of these safety-disaster scenarios have taken place, however the greater part is exaggerations of existing technology, processes and policies that might have not happened so far however are not out of the sphere of likelihood. When a natural calamity or terror attack stop the progress of business, such as, safety weaknesses come out as people are sidetracked by what has taken place or by the dash to get business running again, opening a back door to the same attacker or a new one or relying on the level of devastation, which may let someone walk out the front door with sensitive information.



Johannes Ullrich, CTO of the SANS Institute’s Internet Storm Center,

Corporate espionage is so dangerous . . . that you may not realize what’s happening.” “For example, a targeted worm could go undetected, and it’s not like suddenly [your users experience] a blue screen and you’re dead, but then you see your competitors having strategic advantages over you because they’re being fed your information.

Akin to the front position of the majority of security, professionals’ minds are aimed attacks that hunt for damaging a particular firm by committing theft of confidential information or disrupting business. Most of the firms have taken measures to halt majority of attacks, like viruses and worms that swell across the Internet; now they are come to grips with what to do if a cybercriminal tries to commit theft of sensitive firms or customer information.



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