Experts: Cyber-Criminals Still Running Amok

BOSTON—Gathered in the subterranean confines of a decommissioned vault in the basement of the Boston Stock Exchange, a panel of IT security experts told the assembled crowd that short of locking all their proprietary information in such a contraption, there may be little hope for securing their data.

Brought together on May 12 for imaging giant Xerox’s 2006 Security Summit, the group of technology, intellectual property and law enforcement specialists painted a dreary picture of the current state of information security in enterprise companies, and even U.S. government agencies.

Their warnings and anecdotes left little doubt among attendees that much work remains to be done in fighting the growing threat of so-called cyber-crimes.

Among the perils that stalk enterprises and seek to spirit away their trade secrets, customer information and money, are a new breed of organized criminals, a lack of proper tools for detecting the most advanced forms of computer attacks and legions of unsuspecting workers who leave their employers’ most valuable information assets available for the taking.

One of the fastest growing areas of IT-related felonies is trade secret theft, carried out by everyone from legitimate business to electronic crime syndicates and even foreign governments, said Craig Morford, the first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

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