Saturday - October 7, 2000

Dot Coms Hiring Security Guards to Protect Property

According to The Telegraph:

"DOTCOM entrepreneurs in San Francisco are being forced to hire 24-hour security guards after a spate of arson and graffiti attacks on their plush high-tech offices and the systematic vandalism of employees' expensive cars.

Heads of businesses planning to set up in the city and builders cashing in on contracts for offices have received death threats.

The uprising against "dot-commies", who are blamed by residents for ruining the city's mellow reputation and artistic heritage, is led by two protest groups, the Yuppie Eradication Project and AARGG! (All Against Ruthless Greedy Gentrification)..."

Click here for the full story. [Link no longer active]

A global survey of 4,900 Information Technology professionals across 30 nations, conducted by Information Week Research and fielded by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, estimates that some 50,000 firms in the U.S. are sufficiently large enough to be impacted by and accurately tally up the cost of a software virus. In total, the bill to these U.S. firms this year for viruses and computer hacking will amount to $266 billion, or more than 2.5% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The price tag worldwide soars to $1.6 trillion.

"These estimates are based on the broadest sampling ever achieved in the security industry," noted Rusty Weston, Editor of Information Week Research. "The findings indicate that viruses are far more disruptive to organizations than most people realize. Lost productivity will undoubtedly force many IT organizations to reassess their network defenses and security policies."

According to John DiStefano, principal researcher on the study at Reality Research & Consulting, which assisted Information Week Research on the project, the $266 billion figure represents the impact of viruses on U.S. businesses with more than 1,000 employees, or about 50,000 firms. "These are companies with infrastructures of IT professionals who, because of the dollar impact, are increasingly tracking the problem and can provide an accurate assessment of the scope of the issue. In reality, the true impact of viruses on U.S. business, including medium-sized companies and small businesses, is much greater," DiStefano explained.

DiStefano went on to explain that the key costs involved in correcting IT systems infected by a virus are found in lost productivity as a result of downtime for the computer systems, as well as lost sales opportunities. In North America technology professionals this year will suffer system downtime of 3.24%, while downtime rises to 3.28% on a worldwide basis. To look at the impact another way, the study found that this year alone 6,882 and 39,363 person years of productivity will be lost in North America and Worldwide, respectively.

Viruses and the hackers that deploy them were once viewed as clever pranksters; then nuisances but no longer. "Whenever any activity amounts to 2.7% of the total U.S. GDP, Wall St. takes notice," said DiStefano. "Information technology now runs businesses around the globe. Whatever stops the computer systems stops business. So what would have won you fame, and quite possibly a job offer, a decade ago is now a sure ticket to legal action and criminal penalties."

Republicans Outnumber Democrats on the Web
Media Metrix, a Jupiter Media Metrix Company has released the first installment of its Election 2000 series, revealing very distinct Web-usage patterns among registered members of the two major political parties. Highlights, derived from the Media Metrix Q-Metrix report, include:

*As of Q2 2000, registered Republicans outnumbered registered Democrats online, representing 36.8 percent of the World Wide Web versus 27.9 percent, respectively. The remaining 35.3 percent were affiliated with other parties or were not registered.

*Six of the top 10 sites among registered Republicans by composition are business-finance related and include TheStreet.com, Bigcharts.com, Schwab.com, Etrade.com, Fidelity.com and Cnbc.com.

*Seven of the top 10 sites among registered Democrats by composition appeal to their audience through a range of free content and services, such as advice on saving time and money. These sites include Colonize.com, Askme.com, Ehow.com, Arcamax.com, Ezsweeps.com, Clubmom.com, and Shoppinglist.com.

"Web behavior by registered democrats and republicans differs markedly," said Doug McFarland, president, Media Metrix. "With the elections just over a month away, political marketers should monitor the relative popularity of Web destinations among registered voters in order to communicate effectively with specific target audiences."

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