Cracked Companies

CRACKED COMPANIES

Being guaranteed of information security is important before many users will exchange personal information with a business. Users want to be sure that people who don’t need to see it won’t see any information they provide.

Security is such a crucial topic that we’ve devoted a portion of a chapter (Chapter 7) to the topic. We also discuss security issues within each chapter in the I-Series Insights sections.

What happens then to a business that is cracked, or compromised, and valuable information stolen? Perhaps someone takes your e-mail address. Or maybe it’s your credit card number or social security number. Would you be willing to continue to do business with a company that has been cracked?

Businesses don’t allow this to happen intentionally. Many businesses spend large sums of money to make sure it doesn’t. Some businesses hire firms to find security holes in computer systems or send employees to security training (to learn more, visit Security Tracking). Still, computer systems are compromised almost daily.

We’ve provided some links to Web sites that list businesses which have been hacked or cracked. We’ve also provided links to Web sites that discuss the hardware and software flaws that need to be fixed:

• AntiOnline: A Web discussion board and resource for security professionals to learn how to guard against hacking.
• Attrition’s List: Attrition maintains a list of companies who have had their computer systems compromised.
• Attrition Mirror: A collection of Web site defacements.
• Dmoz Exploit Directory: This Web resource contains links to Web sites that archive security exploits on businesses.
• HappyHacker: A Web resource that collects news on security incidents.
• Insecure: An organization devoted to exposing security holes in software applications.
• Security Discussion Lists: You might want to join some of these e-mail lists to learn about software exploits.
• Net-Security: A Web site designed to help security professionals keep their systems secure.