Don't cut IT security during financial troubles, says Senetas CEO

Businesses and end users are being urged not to scrimp on IT security as they tighten their belts for the global financial crisis.

Senetas CEO John DuBois told CRN that there is significant evidence that cyber-criminals are stepping up their activites in light of the economic turmoil, and that there are still plenty of soft targets.

"Organisations who spend massively on their internal network, firewalls and desktop [are likely to] exclude securing sensitive information (data, voice and video) on their external backup systems, linked SAN's (storage area networks) and disaster recovery sites," he said.

"Most of these people believe they are safe and [think] 'it would not happen to us'.

"[But] the internet has become the hold-up weapon of choice, rather than the gun."

DuBois said risk-averse organisations are coming to Senetas in a number of geographies wanting to ensure their corporate financial information, customer data and enterprise IP is not compromised by the fact that they are globally-connected.

Central banks in some countries have mandated that all banks operating in their geography that connect to a central bank secure all their links, both internally and externally.

"They see encryption as a robust security solution and thus a business enabler for them in a potentially hostile environment," said DuBois.

According to DuBois, there are distinct markets in the IT security sector.

While ATM and the slower link encryptors are aging technologies, there remain significant opportunities for these products in the Middle East and many of the South-East Asian economies.