Chris Conrath

Worldwide IT spending will grow four per cent this year, driven by an improving global economy and the need for users to resolve infrastructure problems, market researcher IDC said recently. But the situation in Canada is less rosy.

Given that corporate security is only as good as its weakest link, Web applications

CARY, N.C. - SAS Institute Inc., the quiet business intelligence giant, on Tueday released its latest software upgrade

With 60,000 employees, a $65 billion budget and 22 ministries, the government of Ontario has the unenviable task of providing a secure IT environment not only to carry out its own duties, but also to provide more than 300 services for millions of citizens.

Symantec

With 60,000 employees, a $65 billion budget and 22 ministries, the government of Ontario has the unenviable task of providing a secure IT environment in order to, not only carry out its duties, but also provide over 300 services for its millions of citizens.

Last year the CERT Coordination Center posted 3,784 vulnerabilities. It was a slight dip from the 4,129 reported in 2002, but nonetheless it points to a growing trend in software fallibility. What this means to the millions of IT security personnel is doubly troubling. First, software, despite all the claims, isn't getting any more secure. And secondly, the problem of patching vulnerabilities has moved from an afterthought to a full-blown crisis.

Already labelled as the one of the most damaging worms ever, the Mydoom malicious code is proving to be a boon for hackers and spammers, but of little consequence to those Canadian companies that took security up a notch after last year's spate of worms.