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80-Percent of Cyber Attacks Could Be Prevented, Says NSA

by Caleb Johnson on November 19, 2009 at 03:32 PM


While the Federal government might throw a hundred million dollars at cyber-attacks, the real solution to the problem is much easier and cheaper -- at least that's what National Security Agency information assurance director Richard Schaeffer told the U.S. Senate Tuesday. According to Wired, Schaeffer says about 80-percent of the attacks could be prevented if network administrators were to simply adhere to conventional configuration policies and closely monitor the networks. If this occurred, Schaeffer believes, it would deter hackers from making attacks because their chances of being caught would be much higher.

But the burden doesn't just fall on administrators. Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance, told the Senate subcommittee that the public should do its part, too. This means simple things like keeping anti-virus software updated and changing default passwords. In turn, that could motivate companies like banks to step up their own security measures. So, you see, it's a two-way street. The Internet is a valuable and wide-open resource, but protecting it from security breaches requires a little common sense from the public, network administrators, and corporations. [From: Wired]

Tags: common sense, CommonSense, hack, network, nsa, security, senate, top, web

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