ENISA Calls on European States for Greater Security

The EU Agency for European Network and Information Security (ENISA) discussed on May 27, 2008 the most serious Internet security threats that trouble people while online.

According to reports published by Vnunet on May 27, 2008, the group released its General Report, cautioning Europe against a 'digital 9/11' and suggesting to reduce gaps in its approaches to national security. If this is not accomplished, the report warned, it could put the European economy to high danger.

According to ENISA, malicious e-mail users, who send phishing e-mails or spam, greatly threatens the economy. ENISA said that 30% of the global trade is currently digitally dependent. Meanwhile, in 2007, spam cost enterprises nearly 645 Billion Euros, double from the 2005 figure. But since only 6% of the total spam reached inboxes, it might be assumed that the issue is under control. Nevertheless, spam is expanding in volume, bandwidth and size and continued to be a costly affair, with 94% of it being out of sight, explained ENISA.

ENISA further said that CERTs (Computer Emergency Response Teams) are the principal components in fighting spam and other cyber attacks. According to its calculation, there are 6 Million compromised computers added to botnets that are under the control of organized criminals worldwide and used to distribute spam with the objective to commit Internet fraud. In 2005, there were only eight EU countries with CERTs, but now there are 14, with 10 more in the pipeline.

Remarking on the situation, ENISA's Executive Director Andrea Pirotti said that Europe needs to regard security threats with greater seriousness and to invest further resources in NIS. Therefore, ENISA suggests the EU member countries to enforce mandatory reporting on incidents of security breach, just like the US, reported Vnunet on May 27, 2008.

Another security specialist Ken Dunham, who is the Director of Global Response for iSight Partners, said that with the growing maturity of the Internet and people's dependence on computer related technology, users are increasingly becoming vulnerable to cyber attacks. NewsFactor published this on May 27, 2008.

Dunham added that a large section of Internet users lack both the knowledge of technology and related security.

Related article: ENISA Discusses New malware Infection on Web 2.0

» SPAMfighter News - 6/6/2008