`Unholy alliance` poses huge security threat

An unholy alliance is developing between the peddlers of pornography and the hacking community that will pose the biggest threat to the security and integrity of the data held on this world`s computer systems - large and small.

Graham Vorster, chief technology officer at Duxbury Networking, takes a look at what awaits the world in the wake of the adult industry`s liberalisation - and what information technology (IT) specialists can do to counter this growing threat.

In the US, law enforcement officers are being trained to be on the look-out for portable data storage devices, often disguised as cigarette lighters or key rings, which are playing an increasing role in the propagation of child pornography.

The average "memory stick" is compact, plugs directly into a PC via the USB port and is capable of storing movies or hundreds of photographs. For child-porn purveyors and collectors, the drives have made trading, transferring and storing files incredibly easy.

Why is there this increasing emphasis on child pornography? The answer must lie in the increasing liberalisation of the adult entertainment industry.

The adult entertainment industry has become what pornography was five years ago. What was called hard-core porn then has become broadly acceptable today.

As a result, pornography is evolving. It is now significantly more explicit, more degrading, more violent - often involving children - and more reprehensible.

The Internet is the porn playground of the world and there is little doubt that the criminal or antisocial behaviour found on the Internet is merely a mirror of criminals` analogous behaviour in the physical world.

The links between pornography and other types of crime - particularly drug running - are close because of the huge sums of money to be made.

If the so-called "legitimate" porn industry is worth more than $14 billion per annum, the illegal porn business is worth as much if not more. Add this figure to drugs, prostitution, extortion and other crime and a picture emerges of the modern-day criminal.

Just as there is very little psychological difference between cyber-pornographers and "real world" porn addicts, so there is minimal difference between criminals who operate in the real world and those who function with the aid of computers.

Cyber criminals - often labelled hackers - are closely associated with other criminal elements. The anonymity associated with the computer and the Internet is often a catalyst for feelings of "invincibility" on the part of the criminals, who may well increase the scope of their endeavours in the belief that they will not be caught.

The cyber criminal often has a far easier task than his real-world counterpart. Whereas breaking into a bank might require many hours of planning, procurement of a getaway car, acquisition of weaponry, the risk of being shot by guards and police - breaking into a database and hacking a file or two to move money from one account to another can take a minute or less, with none of the immediate physical risks.

How does an organisation safeguard itself against these threats? Porn sites are the most controversial - and popular - destinations on the Internet. Unless restricted, company staff will spend hours browsing these sites, with the potential for catastrophic results.

The links between porn sites and hacking are well known. Hackers use these sites to infiltrate corporate computer systems with the aid of Trojan horse systems. Once the door is opened in this way, it is easy for the hacker to gain more control over a corporate workstation than the person sitting legitimately at the keyboard, because more power is exposed through a hacking tool - such as Back Orifice - than through conventional Windows, Unix or Linux operating systems.

Almost every company with an IT environment and Internet access has a firewall in place. Recent surveys of IT users show that they are becoming ubiquitous. Are firewalls a necessary security measure? Absolutely. Will they keep you completely safe from network infiltration? Absolutely not.

Since almost 80% of cyber-attacks on companies are perpetrated from an inside source, the firewall may be less than effective.

More significantly, whenever a new application is applied, whether it is an operating system or an accounting program, an opportunity is created for a security breach.

This effect can go on indefinitely, making it challenging to maintain security while implementing the latest technologies.

Clearly, there is no such thing as a completely secure infrastructure. New threats appear every day and keeping pace requires a constant focus on security.

Proactive measures need to be taken and extra levels of protection added to present obstacles for hackers to overcome.

Of the potential threats that await us, out-and-out cyber warfare is probably the worst. In 2001, hackers broke into computers owned by California`s primary electric power grid operator. These hackers, who were later traced to a system in China, remained undetected for 17 days.

Although there was minimal damage, hackers came very close to switching off California`s electricity-distribution power-control systems. What if next time the infiltrated systems were those that controlled the US`s missile silos? No fortification process is foolproof or accomplished in one easy "quick fix".

Corporate computer security must be a continuing process requiring multiple layers and continually evolving expertise to defend against network marauders who threaten critical business and other information.