Cyberthieves find workplace networks are easy pickings

[Brian Warkoczeski]

Cyberthieves find workplace networks are easy pickings

Oct. 9, 2009

By Byron Acohido, USA TODAY

www.usatoday.com

It took only a modicum of skill for a cybergang to steal 94 million 
credit and debit card payment records from the TJX retail chain — and 
follow that up by hauling in 130 million records from credit card 
processor Heartland Payment Systems.

Court records reveal that those record-setting break-ins were almost too 
easy. Even more surprising: The thieves were able to take their sweet 
time extracting the data, in each case going undetected for more than a 
year.

What happened to TJX and Heartland was not unusual. And details unveiled 
in the prosecution of gang members involved in both thefts have shed 
fresh light on a business truism demanding more scrutiny: Workplace 
networks have turned out to be much more porous and difficult to defend 
than anyone ever anticipated.

Overly complex IT systems are producing endless opportunities for 
cyberthieves, who need only to master simple hacking techniques to get 
their hands on sensitive data. The result: Data breaches continue to 
plague companies, hospitals, universities and government agencies — any 
entity that collects data and conducts business on a digital network.

The vast majority of organizations routinely fail to take simple 
defensive measures, such as shoring up common website weaknesses or 
uniformly enforcing the use of strong passwords. "Networks have become a 
hodgepodge of components stitched together, creating security holes that 
can easily be taken advantage of," says Barmak Meftah, senior vice 
president at applications security firm Fortify Software.

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