After U.S., South Korea Produced Most Cyber-Attacks In Q4 2001 According to Predictive Systems Study.

Business/High Tech Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 18, 2002

In the fourth quarter of 2001, South Korea produced the most cyber-attacks of any country apart from the United States according to a new study of the geographical distribution of information security incidents conducted by Predictive Systems (Nasdaq: PRDS), a leading security and infrastructure consulting firm.

The study presents alarming new insights into the current state of IT security in technologically developing countries. As these countries continue to rapidly and haphazardly build network infrastructure, they have in many cases implemented improperly secured systems, thereby posing a significant risk to networks globally.

Designed to identify the countries causing the largest threat to computer systems worldwide, the Predictive Systems investigation found that, after the United States, Pacific Rim countries produced 91% of all attacks during the period under examination. South Korea topped the list with 34% of attacks, followed by China (29%), Japan (10%), Taiwan (7%), Hong Kong (4%), Australia (3%), India (2%), and Singapore (2%). By contrast, non-Pacific Rim countries posed a considerably lower threat profile, with Great Britain producing 7% of worldwide attacks and Germany (2%).

"Over the past few years, information security attacks have increased dramatically in number and in strength. In order to more accurately predict the sources and nature of future attacks, it is critical to have an understanding of where the majority of the current activity is taking place," said Richard Smith, senior security analyst for Predictive Systems' Global Integrity business unit.

"The information provided in the study can assist corporations in incident-handling based on a geographic representation of events. Firms could score events higher if they originated from a country that is identified as likely to host an attack. If no business is done in the country where the events originated, the corporation might even consider filtering traffic from that source to mitigate the risk of attack."

"We found that nations with a strong communications infrastructure and free markets -- which describes much of the Pacific Rim -- are, and will likely continue to be, the source of frequent information security attacks," observed Smith. He also noted that nations with weaker economies and growing communications infrastructures will likely be prime sources of attacks as well.

"If nations are in the early stages of building infrastructure and do not have the time, talent, or funding to support security efforts, it is possible that internal attackers could take advantage of lax security. This situation is compounded by external attackers who might use such nations as a jump-off point for attacks," Smith stated. "Regardless of the source of attack, it is critical for administrators to continue patching known vulnerabilities in a timely manner and taking proactive steps to improve their security posture to reduce risk and mitigate future attacks."

For purposes of the study, over 12 million events from 54 geographically distinct sensors monitoring worldwide network traffic for malicious activity were parsed and aggregated. Each sensor monitored networks with ten to several thousand hosts, and the source IP addresses of the events were used to derive the origin of an attack based on lookups to the respective registrars. This approach allowed Predictive Systems to quantify the overall security threat posed by any particular country with a high degree of accuracy.

About Predictive Systems

Predictive Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: PRDS) is a leading consulting firm focused on building, optimizing, and securing high-performance infrastructures to increase operational efficiency, mitigate risk, and empower the business initiatives of Fortune 1000 companies. The firm's BusinessFirst(TM) approach maps technology solutions to business goals, and delivers measurable results. Headquartered in New York City, Predictive Systems has regional offices throughout the United States. Internationally, it has offices in Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and the UK. For additional information, please contact Predictive Systems at 800/770-4958 or visit www.predictive.com.

Predictive Systems, the Predictive Systems logo, BusinessFirst, and Global Integrity are trademarks or registered trademarks of Predictive Systems, Inc. All other brands or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

This press release contains statements of a forward-looking nature relating to future events or future financial results of Predictive Systems. Investors are cautioned that such statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. In evaluating such statements, investors should specifically consider various factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those indicated from such forward-looking statements, including the matters set forth in Predictive Systems' reports and other documents filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.