Lock the damned door!

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2-09-97. Computerworld:

Lock the damned door!

A graduate student takes only three and a half hours to break the most secure encryption code that can be legally exported.

A fired employee encrypts the company's vital databases on his way out the door.

It's no wonder security keeps information systems managers up at night. In a recent Computer Security Institute survey, 42% of respondents said they've experienced an intrusion or some unauthorized use of their systems in the past year. And those were the shops that would acknowledge a problem; security breaches are notoriously underreported.

Data theft from the inside, hacks from the outside, viruses, encryption, they all fall under the security umbrella, and they all fall to you. With the breadth of the field in mind, this Special Report on security examines the issue from several angles:

Senior editor Robert L. Scheier observed first hand a comprehensive security review. He learned that all the technology in the world won't help you if strangers roam unchecked at your site.

Columnist Paul Strassmann, fresh from conducting a study for the U.S. secretary of defense on how to protect the nation's defense information infrastructure , explains how to protect your company's information assets.

Product review: We test tools that guard against groupware-borne viruses.

Vendors eagerly tout their servers' security bells and whistles, then disable them before shipping.

And that's not all. We also look at some of the career paths in this fast- growing field.