Large corporations hide hacks and security issues to investors

Do not panic!, But ... at least a half dozen major U.S. companies, and therefore some of the largest companies worldwide were attacked by hackers digitally, and their data compromised. None warned investors. Alguos data are of the greatest security experts, to ensure that cases of hacking, far from diminishing, are still growing and are becoming more common and more critical, given the high dependence on the Internet and centralization today.

Virtually none of these events are later reflected in the reports, usually quarterly, to be completed by companies and corporations with the state of affairs of the same. Reuters wanted to explore more about it, and there are interesting (at the same time concern) data that speak of a study of more than 2,000 reports in which hardly mentioned about computer attacks, and when done, is done generically.

A clear example is the case of VeriSign , one of the largest certification authorities worldwide, which issues official certificates not only for corporations but for entities, and which has just discovered that would have been the victim of a cyber attack makes approximately two years, being involved and potentially in the hands of hackers valuable information about companies, websites, etc..

The scope is not yet known, but the impact could be brutal, as Verisign issues the vast majority of Internet SSL certificates, which in turn is responsible for managing a plethora of domains through their DNS servers. We talk about domains. Com and. Net, but also. Gov, house government sites centered.

In some ways it is understandable that security companies try to hide the cyber attacks against their investors, but ... is it legal? We are talking about a difficult subject. On the one hand, these companies are surely obliged to report any problems or intrusion to their investors. Furthermore, the chaos that could be formed thereon, with frightened customers and stock effects or even affecting the financial markets. Another example, that of Sony .

Nippon The company was forced to admit that they had suffered several attacks and that valuable information had been compromised by attackers filtered it through the Internet. Had they not having been admitted in this situation?

Why companies do not inform their investors of the security problems? Well, besides not to alarm, to avoid possible lawsuits or fines from the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), U.S. agency that tries to enforce federal laws and obligations of the companies operating in U.S. territory.

This is a problem, however, affecting all companies worldwide, and is that anyone is exposed to a possible cyber attack caused perhaps by a security breach that could give many headaches.