Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/1999/08/04/cyber_war_threat_to_uk/

Cyber war threat to UK set to explode

Businesses are ill equipped to fight off the online terrorist

By Tim Richardson

Posted in On-Prem, 4th August 1999 11:16 GMT

Global cyber warfare is set to cost companies more than $20 billion this year as the threat of Internet generated attacks increases, according to London-based mi2g software. At a technical seminar scheduled to take place tonight, security experts will argue that more needs to be done to counter the growing corporate threat from cyber warfare through viruses, hacking and clock forwarding. According to mi2g, UK businesses are becoming more and more concerned about the increased threats to their network security. mi2g estimates that the global cost of three high profile virus attacks -- Melissa in March, Chernobyl in April and the fatal ExploreZip in June -- has already exceeded $2.5 billion. And it warns that companies and organisations simply don't have the budget to counter future industrial attacks. "The key question is how does one plan for business continuity in the coming years as organisations become totally dependent on IT networks and this type of economic terrorism continues to grow geometrically," said DK Matai, founder of mi2g software. Expenses and time lost are rising much faster than budgets, he said. ®