Some managers battle to assign a value to good PR but an event last week starkly demonstrated the cost of bad PR, and it was quite easy to measure: it cost networking manufacturer Emulex $2.5 billion in loss of market capitalisation in just one day.
The release was issued on Emulex letterhead, so it was probably an inside job.
Ian Melamed, MD, Ian Melamed Secure Computing
This highlights quite spectacularly the interlinked power and vulnerability of the Web; a bogus press release was placed on Web-based news dissemination service Internet Wire. It said the company`s CEO had resigned and Emulex had been forced to restate 1998 and 1999 earnings, and revise the fourth quarter to a loss from a gain. It added Emulex was under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The news was picked up by Bloomberg and Dow Jones news wires, which use Internet Wire as a news source.
Many issues arise:
How could the bogus release slip through the system? Anyone who deals with our own JSE will know how easy it is to implement safeguards; and yet, it could happen here. Be on your guard!
Nasdaq failed to halt trading fast enough, leading to Emulex`s spectacular loss of value.
The release was issued on Emulex letterhead, so it was probably an inside job. Security, like charity, really does begin at home.
- You just have to hand it to the virus authors: they truly will stop at nothing to ensure they get their payloads delivered. First there was the declaration of undying love of the Love Bug, then the offer of a job in the Resume virus. Now they`re targeting your children with the overwhelmingly popular Pokemon cartoon series, aiming to snare the next generation of computer users.
There is a new Trojan based on the game/merchandising opportunity, aimed squarely at young Internet users. It`s called W32/Pikachu-A, after the most popular Pokemon character, and it`s a straightforward .exe executable e-mail attachment that few adults would open, but kids might, especially given the name in the subject heading. Should your child open it, the Trojan will display an animated graphic of its namesake, along with a message professing undying friendship; in the background the e-mail is forwarded to the Outlook address book and the autoexec.bat script is reprogrammed to erase all Windows system files next time the machine is restarted.
- Yay! The bad guys have been caught for once, but not before dealing another body blow to e-commerce. UK police have caught the first of a new breed of bank robbers. Three men have been arrested following a six-month investigation into a fraud attack on London-based Internet bank Egg. The arrest was related to criminals attempting to establish bogus accounts to access funds. Other Internet banks may also have been victims of similar fraud; Egg has refuted early press claims that it had lost thousands of pounds as a result of the fraud. Apart from anything else, can you see yourself entrusting your hard earned cash to a bank called Egg?
- And the FBI`s also getting in on the act. It was able to trace extortion e-mails originating from a public library computer. The extorter was trying to swindle $1 million from the Candor software company by threatening to release the company`s software keys on the Web.
- Remember my tale of the White House Web porn scandal? Now it emerges that many senior members of the White House have been using aliases for sending and receiving e-mail. Should it surprise you to discover that among the alias users is President Clinton? Probably not, but how about current Vice President Al Gore, his wife and Hilary Clinton? Nothing like transparency in government.
- Last week we reported on the Web site defacements by pro-Napster attacker, Pimpshiz. Now it transpires the person behind Pimpshiz is claiming to be an 11-year-old girl. Is there no end to the bizarreness of the new cyberworld?
- Apparently not. A Pakistani group known as "mOs" has claimed responsibility for defacing a number of Web sites in India. The group, together with others such as GForce and The Pakistani Hackers` Club, is letting off steam at India over hotly disputed Kashmir. Some 60 sites have been altered this month.
- We know incubators are all the rage, but who`d have thought the CIA would become one? It`s gone off and got $28 million from Congress to set up its own incubator fund, immediately investing in eight hi-tech companies. The CIA`s target companies for investment are those developing new sensor technologies and security infrastructure.
- Disclosure of personal information to unknown people or businesses is the biggest concern for Web surfers. This emerges from a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. This concern is ahead of credit card fraud or viruses. The figure: 84%.
- As expected, attempts to prosecute the alleged author of the Love Bug virus failed. The alleged cannot be charged with wrongdoing under Philippine law. Not bad for someone who launched malicious code that cost businesses and governments worldwide $10 billion. Indeed, the threat of prosecution has been replaced by a number of job offers. Who says crime doesn`t pay?
- The single biggest opportunity for cyber attacks of the year is the 2000 Olympics Games in Sydney. The Olympics Web site expects more than a billion hits over the 18 days, making it a prime target for hackers. The Sydney Olympics will be the most computer-reliant in history, with thousands of results from the 39 venues being posted electronically rather than printed out. The organisers are keeping secret the methods used to protect the system from hackers. After all, imagine what could happen if the real-life winner of a race becomes a loser in e-space. IBM is managing a network of around 7 300 PCs for the Olympics.
- Dow Chemical is to fire some 40 employees for violating the company`s e-mail policy by circulating violent or sexually explicit material. This is the second time Dow has done this, after a review led to 50 firings earlier this year. Staff say management was over the top, or they didn`t believe they would go through with it. So, who in corporate SA will take the lead?
(Sources: CNSNews.com, Yahoo, Reuters, Silicon.com and ComputerWire.)
Ian Melamed is MD of Ian Melamed Secure Computing.
Share
