A team of Penn State and Iowa State researchers has tested and rated three "smart" classification methods capable of detecting the telltale patterns of entry and misuse left by the typical computer network intruder. They found that one, called "rough sets," currently overlooked by the industry, is the best. The researchers report that computer security breaches have risen significantly in the last three years. In February 2000, Yahoo, Amazon, E-Bay, Datek and E-Trade were shut down due to denial-of-service attacks on their web servers.
The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) reports that about 250,000 break-ins into Federal computer systems were attempted in one year and 64 percent were successful. The number of attacks is doubling every year and the GAO estimates that only one to four percent of these attacks will be detected and only about one percent will be reported.
Dr. Chao-Hsien Chu, associate professor of information sciences and technology and of management science and information systems at Penn State, began the study when he was on the faculty at Iowa State University.
News: Network Security
