8 Jun 2005

These days, with most company IT systems being connected to the Internet, the danger of being ‘hacked’ is ever present and the latest research shows that several billion pounds of damage is being done annually to IT systems.

A recent survey of 10,000 computers in over 4,000 companies by software provider Webroot found that  5 percent of PCs had system monitors, which track a computer user's online activity, and 5.5 percent had Trojan horses, which are programs that can be used to allow an external user to have access to a PC, allowing them to access data and to launch spam or denial-of-service attacks on websites.

Under the Data Protection Act, companies holding personal data are required to safeguard the data. The potential for commercial loss through hacking or data leakage from Trojan horses is very substantial, especially if the loss of personal data leads to losses for the ‘data subject’. For example, if a customer’s personal data were stolen and misused, a company with inadequate data security procedures could find themselves facing a lawsuit. Potentially, this could be in a court anywhere in the world.