Firms are being cautioned to watch out for the Christmas phishers - the internet anglers posing as banks to hack into business accounts.
One Essex businessman warns that he expects his normal weekly "attacks" to rise from five to 20 this week.
He said: "The phishing has become a major problem and while banks are on the lookout for unusual spending patterns and often alert clients, at times like Christmas normal spending is often abandoned and large withdrawals do not arouse suspicion."
The Institute of Directors (IoD) is urging firms to be on the lookout for phishing in a double-caution about computer crime. It has isssued a special guidebook on the dangers of cyber crime and the need for businesses to take proper security measures or, in the worst case, risk their firm's survival.
Nicholas Cook, Essex chairman of the IoD, said: "It is not too outlandish to say that if firms fail to secure their systems effectively, they could go out of business."
The biggest threats come from malicious virus spreaders who can clog IT systems so effectively all traffic can come to a standstill, says Mr Cook.
He admits that his own company had been obliged to shut down its system to give the log jam time to clear.
"This mean a loss of e-mail facilities and a return to snail mail," he said.
In his caution to companies, he said: "When we go home at night from the office or factory we would not dream of leaving the doors and windows open and the safe unlocked. Yet all too often, in terms of e-security, organisations do exactly that."
A recent survey of IoD members found 25 per cent did not keep their firewalls up-to-date and ten per cent of broadband users had no firewall at all.
The average UK firm now suffers an IT security problem once a week, with the worst incidents costing between £7,000 and £14,000, mainly through loss of business.
The IoD fears the situation will worsen as technology advances further. It says:
Wireless technology is opening a potentially vast number of defenceless networks
Easy-to-use tools on the internet are allowing relatively unskilled hackers to attack company networks
Published Thursday December 23, 2004
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