Almost 16 percent of US online households connected to the Internet via broadband this year, but a new report reveals security risks associated with the use of always-on Internet connections.
By 2003, broadband services such as cable modem and DSL connections will penetrate 46 percent of all online households in the US. This forecast is good news for broadband service providers, as current high-speed access costs are as much as USD50 per month per online household.
There is another cost associated with the growth of broadband connections, however. ‘Crackers’ (malicious hackers) will be presented with more opportunities to tap into millions of PCs belonging to unwary users. When you log on to the Internet, an IP address is assigned to your computer from your Internet service provider to allow information to be sent to your home computer. This is dynamic-it changes every time you log on.
Broadband users are ‘always on’ and are often assigned a fixed IP address. This gives crackers a better chance of searching for the user’s personal information, such as credit card numbers and stored passwords, because they have access to a stationary target.
Nearly 85 percent of web users in the US said they can protect themselves from cyber crime, but just two out of every ten home Internet users have personal firewall protection on their PCs. Such applications from leading providers are relatively cheap (from USD30 to USD54), and easy to install.
