Small business likely to be target of cyber criminals

During a March 9 U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business forum, "CyberCrime: What a Small Business Can Do to Protect Itself," Sen. Kit Bond said he fears small businesses are likely targets for Internet theft and vandalism.

Bond said the nonstop growth of e-commerce-based sales worth an estimated $2.8 billion in January alone the epidemic of cyber crimes, such as Web site hacking, are setting up small business to take the brunt of Internet crime.

"The money changing hands online is so great, and the stakes are so high for businesses to secure a place in the Internet marketplace, it seems inevitable that computer thieves will target companies least able to defend themselves," said Bond, chairman of the Small Business Committee, in a press release. "That means small businesses, struggling to carve out their own niche in e-commerce, are ripe for the picking."

He added, "Many of the country's largest businesses have been actively working to protect themselves from computer criminals and vandals whose actions can do costly damage to a business serving customers on the Internet.

"As government and big business set up new electronic walls and systems to protect themselves, small businesses very likely will become an even greater target," he added.

Research by the Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie Mellon University shows a 121 percent increase in computer intrusion incidents, commonly known as hacking, between 1998 and 1999.

Additionally, research by the Computer Security Institute reveals that nationwide, more than 30 percent of businesses have been victimized by a computer intrusion incident, according to the release.

Experts in the field say it is likely that hacking is even more widespread than these studies indicate because it is believed that many companies, fearing negative publicity and reduced consumer confidence, have been reluctant to report cyber crime incidents.

"The extent of the threat truly is alarming, and it clearly puts needed economic growth at risk, not only in retail sales, but also in business-to-business sales, a key arena of potential growth for small businesses," Bond said.

Joan Neptune, a Florida woman who provided testimony during the cyber crime forum, said her former firm's Web site was repeatedly attacked by foreign hackers, costing her company established clients and expenses of more than $500,000, as well as damaging the firm's reputation beyond recovery.

Her company, an Internet service provider, eventually was sold at a loss to investors, and about 100 employees lost their jobs.

The hacker, located in Germany only after the Secret Service entered the investigation, got "a slap on the wrist" while the company received a "death sentence," Neptune told the committee.

As a result of the forum, Bond said he will ask Attorney General Janet Reno to request that a toll-free number be set up to provide a central contact point to law enforcement authorities responsible for computer crimes and computer security-related issues.