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List:       isn
Subject:    [ISN] As Corporate Networks Expand, Some Visitors Come Uninvited
From:       mea culpa <jericho () dimensional ! com>
Date:       1998-04-28 22:38:13
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Forwarded From: Nicholas Charles Brawn <ncb05@uow.edu.au>


27Apr98 JAPAN: AS CORPORATE NETWORKS EXPAND, SOME VISITORS COME UNINVITED. 
"Computer systems at 90% of Japanese companies allow intrusion from
outside," warned instructor Takeshi Horizoe at a March 26 seminar in
Tokyo.  The seminar on Internet crime and ways to prevent unauthorized
access drew some 40 people in charge of systems from the manufacturing,
financing, distribution and other sectors. 

Horizoe is a senior consultant at General Accounting & Business Consulting
Inc. of Tokyo, which handles security for corporate systems. "Some
companies have a sense of crisis about unauthorized access at the
management level, and others do not have any such sense," he said. 
Unauthorized access means that an outsider intrudes deeply into a
company's system via the Internet to steal or destroy data. 

Strong sector 

The company last October started a management service to prevent
unauthorized access. Manufacturers especially have a strong tendency to
consider information as an asset, and 21 of 30 companies that use the
service are manufacturers. 

Research-and-development data on new products may have immeasurable value. 
The company said one of its client manufacturers affirmed that it would
spare no expense to protect information.  Computer-network crime is not a
problem for manufacturers alone. For example, any company that provides
information for investors can have its home page altered by outsiders,
with the potential to gravely affect stock prices. 

General Accounting's service involves trying to enter a client company's
system by the same methods as intruders and checking its degree of
security. The company does not send its personnel to the client,
performing all functions through the network. "Some home pages have been
lers with the content illegally altered," Hori-zoe said. 

After checking defects in the system, the company draws up a report and
delivers it to the client. General Accounting then can take concrete
measures, such as installing a guard system called a fire wall, based on
the report. 

Fumiaki Yamasaki, the company's general manager for business development,
said, "It is important for a company to decide what information to
protect." The larger a company, the larger the investment in security
normally will be. While most companies pay 6-10 million yen (46,200
dollars to 76,900 dollars) annually, some large systems may need hundreds
of millions of yen. 

Investing in protecting information requires management understanding. 
General Accounting holds a seminar once a month to call companies'
attention to the importance of preventing improper access.  In 1997, just
over 400 cases of unauthorized access were reported to the Japan Computer
Emergency Response Team. The number, however, is said to be only a
fraction of the actual figure, since many companies are reluctant to
disclose such incidents. 

General Accounting regards companies with annual sales of more than 100
billion yen as potential clients, and projects contracts with 150
companies and sales of 630 million yen in the fiscal year through March
1999. 


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