Spy vs. spy: companies are spending billions on network security, but staying ahead of hackers may be a pipe dream - techwatch

ANY WAY YOU LOOK AT IT, 2003 was a real bad year for network security. Although corporate concern over cyber threats jumped dramatically, so too did the number of cyber attacks against companies and their machines. Indeed, security specialist MessageLabs reports that spam accounted for 50 percent of all business E-mail traffic in the United States in May, the first time that junk E-mail outstripped the number of legitimate electronic messages sent to corporations. And if much spam is relatively harmless, some is decidedly not. Digital pathogens such as SoBig, Mimail, and Yaha, which can infect employee computers and servers alike, all spread via E-mail. MessageLabs reckons that two-thirds of all spam is now being sent by open proxies--created in part by computers and other gadgets infected by viruses.