bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

additionalInfoBoxes

quizIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Lydia Zajc

Here is a rare twist on the usual story about United States products invading Asia - consulting and audit firm Arthur Andersen has developed a security system in Singapore and is taking it to the US next month.

Its intrusion management products - Secure Enterprise Application Layer (Seal) and Web protection tool OneView - rolled out in Hong Kong last week.

It takes the approach that attacks will happen, and a lightning-fast response is the only way to deal with a breach, shutting it down as soon as possible.

Andersen will launch the pair at a security conference in San Franciso on April 9.

Uantchern Loh, a partner at Andersen Labs for Internet and Security, led the team which developed the products in Singapore. He sees it as 'probably one of the most comprehensive' solutions available.

Andersen began developing the products in 1999 and had spent between US$2 million and US$3 million on them, Mr Loh said.

Over the years, there had been three waves of solutions to computer attacks -  protection, detection and now intrusion management, he said.

Andersen's solution detected and reacted instead of trying to protect the unprotectable.

'Time is the true measure of security,' said Louis Ho, a technology risk consulting partner at Arthur Andersen in Hong Kong.

Internet security experts generally acknowledge attacks on a company's system, whether by disgruntled ex-employees or random mischief-makers, are unstoppable, partly because techniques to crack a system are being developed faster than company security systems can cope.

In a recent survey of US corporations, government agencies and organisations, the authoritative Computer Security Institute in San Francisco found that 85 per cent of respondents uncovered computer security intrusions in the past 12 months.

The sixth annual study, conducted with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, also discovered that 64 per cent of the respondents suffered financial losses due to the attacks.

Of the 538 computer security practitioners surveyed, only 186 were willing, and able, to quantify losses worth US$377.8 million. That was dramatically higher than last year, when 249 respondents posted losses of US$265.6 million.

In addition, 70 per cent of respondents said their Web site was a frequent point of attack, more so than internal systems.

Asian security firms, whether domestic or international, are beginning to focus on how to handle a break-in.

A Seal project ranged from US$250,000 to US$2 million to implement and run, Andersen executives said.

About 10 Web sites, ranging from banks and financial institutions to telecommunications companies, already use Seal to alert them to intruders.

Although Arthur Andersen was more known for its consulting practices than products, its customers no longer wanted pure strategy and were seeking solutions, executives said.

Unisys' managing principal worldwide security practice, Sunil Misra, agreed there was no such thing as 100 per cent security.

'The question is, how do you minimise your risk?'



Consultancy focuses on detection and reaction