Another extraordinarily interesting report crossed my desk this morning and I thought I should write a little bit about it and direct you to a resource where you can learn more.  The Australian Business Assessment of Computer User Security is the most comprehensive study on the costs and challenges associated with computer security breaches experienced by Australian businesses.

This report is full of interesting statistics and as usual, I strongly encourage you to read the entire thing. However, from the SmartSwipe perspective, the statistic that stood out was the fact that the highest proportion of small and medium sized businesses reported that viruses and malicious software caused them the greatest financial loss. The mainstream news media loves to report on hacking, and hardware theft, but actual businesses discovered that malicious software harmed their bottom lines the most.

And now here is a particularly baffling finding. Participants who rated their knowledge of computer security as 'very high' reported experiencing more computer security incidents. Does educating people put them at higher risk of being victimized? If so, I would like to apologize for trying to educate you!! Or, is this a question of awareness? Are people who know more about security simply more aware of the security breaches their companies face?

Finally, fans of quirky British fiction will be pleased to know that this is my Douglas Adams post. This is the 42nd article I have written on this particular blog. Maybe Douglas Adams is right and 42 is a nice number that you can take home and introduce to your family? Be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed, or follow me on Twitter.