WHO’S STEALING YOUR INFORMATION?
by Dorothy Denning, Ph.D.
Companies in the United States could be losing more than $250 billion annually to information thieves, according to a 1997 American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) survey of Fortune 1000 firms and the 300 fastest growing U.S. companies. More than half (56 percent) of the 172 companies responding to the survey reported at least one attempted or suspected information misappropriation. Over a 17-month period, some 1,100 documented incidents of intellectual property theft were identified, worth an estimated $44 billion. And the problem may be getting worse: The estimated dollar losses were five times greater than that reported in the previous ASIS survey.
If these statistics make you feel a little insecure, they should. No matter what industry or economic sector your organization is in, it produces, maintains and transmits information, intellectual property and trade secrets that others would love to get their hands on. The problem is, the threat is multidimensional, difficult to pinpoint and therefore difficult to prevent.
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