All software will be broken into, and it is only a question of 'when,' not of 'if'

Ever wondered why your computer frequently gets infected with viruses, spams, bugs and malwares from internet and why can't it be fortified against intrusions? Mr Vijay Mukhi, Chief Espionage Officer of Mumbai Police and MD of Vijay Mukhi's Computer Institute, provides the answer. He refers to Microsofts' doctrine that all IT software are vulnerable and will be violated; it is only a question of time as to 'when'.

Mr Mukhi was addressing a seminar on 'Security Development Lifecycle (SDL)’ organized by Indian Merchants’ Chamber on July 20. Among the other experts who spoke at the seminar were: Mr M N Kutty Nair, Chairman & MD of MIEL e-Security, Mr Hanuman Tripathi, MD, Infrasoft Technologies, and Mr Anuj Gupta, Director, MIEL e-Security.

Dwelling at length on developing secure software, Mr Mukhi said the Microsoft had laid down a multistage process, which include: * continuous education and training * project inception to provide for security to business products covered by SSL, e-mail and database services * defining and following design best practices, * product risk assessment and analysis * creating security documents, tools and best practices for customers * secure coding and testing practices (such as Fuzz testing, Pen testing) * security response planning and execution etc.

Mr Mukhi said network security could some extent ensured by installing firewalls and intrusion detection devices. And then there were also application security issues. "Security breach impacts businesses very severely. About 70% of all security breaches is due to software defects arising from technical and logical flaws," he said.

Mr Kutty Nair said that if you logged on, you were vulnerable to contamination. All internet security systems rested on three legs -- people, process, and technology. "Enterprises in India are waking up to the need to face the security challenge, resulting in a high growth prospects for internet security ( IS) market, which is right now at an inflection point. IS spends by SMEs are in a takeoff stage."

Mr Hanuman Tripathi focussed on the need for security measures in internet banking, ATMs and conventional banking systems. Internet banking security spanned areas of network security, transaction security and protection against frauds by employing phishing filters, reporting fraudulent websites, e-mails and spams.
Mr Anuj Gupta said effective devices were available the market to contain information security breaches. "Key drivers of information security are security breaches of various kinds, regulatory compliance, and quality assurance. Security breaches can occur at desk tops, work stations, and at end points. Possibility of such breaches can be minimized only by active participation of senior managers by installing the anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-malware, firewall and intrusion detection software, besides systems for IT back up, and undertaking other security measures", he said.