Meter's Running: Fight Against Cybercrime Growing in Cost and Complexity

BOSTON – Credit unions who find themselves turning to outside help to secure their IT functions are not alone. Cybercrime is a growth industry on both sides of the fight, according to new figures from a leading think firm. The Yankee Group says that worldwide revenue for providers of managed security services is expected to grow from $1.9 billion in 2003 to $3.7 billion in 2008. The spending spree is being driven by the increasing sophistication of both attackers and defenders, Yankee Group analysts say in a new report. “The increase in vulnerabilities and threats to communication systems is driving the rapid evolution of security technologies,” the report says. “These developments are outpacing the enterprise’s ability to stay up to date on the latest countermeasures and techniques to thwart attacks.” Adding to the concern, the Yankee Group report says, is the movement of threats “from the network perimeter further into the enterprise to critical network links, key hosts and servers, databases and end-user workstations.”