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27% OF U.S., CANADIAN BANKING DATABASES BREACHED: SURVEY

Posted on January 23, 2002

      Twelve percent of online corporate databases suffered security breaches in 2001, and those of banking and financial institutions were most commonly targeted, a survey of database developers has found.

      More than one fourth - 27 percent - of banking and financial services databases were breached, according to an Evans Data Corp. survey of 750 database developers in the U.S. and Canada conducted in December. Such problems were reported by 18 percent of those working in the medical/healthcare field and the telecommunications industry.

      "An area of concern explored in the survey is the extent to which databases, which house a corporation's crown jewels, are protected," Evans Data analyst Joe McKendrick said in the survey report. "While many viruses and hackers have wreaked havoc with Web servers and e-mail servers, some have also hit data on databases directly."

      Of the developers who reported breaches, 30 percent described them as computer viruses, 19 percent said they were deliberate hackings, 19 percent cited human error, 7 percent attributed the problem to an internal software glitch, and 25 percent answered "other," said Evans Data spokesman Alan Penchansky.

      The survey did not assess losses caused by database security breaches, Penchansky said.

      Most of the developers said they had strengthened the security of their network infrastructures, but not as many utilized built-in database security features, the survey said.

      "Many people are focused on the security of their networks and operating systems," McKendrick said. "However, little attention is given to actual database security." Only 37 percent said they use such features.

      The survey also found that 42 percent used Windows 2000 as a development platform last year, compared to 21 percent in 2000; more than 44 percent are developing database applications that support mobile or wireless devices, up from 38 percent last summer.

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