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Companies, individuals and public bodies in Europe spend too little time protecting their computer networks from security threats, the European Commission has warned. Unveiling a new IT security strategy, officials said security spending across the continent commands 5-13 per cent of annual technology spend and remains “alarmingly low.” Member states, the European Network Security Agency and the IT industry must join forces to usher in more trustworthy, secure and reliable ICTs, the Commission said. Vivianne Reding, Information Society and Media Commissioner added: “The nature of the threat is changing and so must our response. In the past, hackers were motivated by a desire to show off whereas today, many threats come from criminal activities and are motivated by profit.” The threat calls for a revised strategy; one that focuses on dialogue, partnership, empowerment and transparency, Reding said. She claims the public sector must fulfill its duty to raise awareness of the problem, but ultimately, solutions must be provided by the private sector. One proposal the Commission has put forward calls for the benchmarking of national policies on network and information security, with a view to improving dialogue between public bodies, while raising awareness among end users. The need to raise end user awareness was reinforced this week when pollster Eurostat revealed that four out of 10 adults living in the EU 25 have no basic computer skills. Men are marginally more IT-savvy than women, while the most e-proficient, expectantly, emerged as the 16-24-year-olds, who displayed “high-level e-skills.” Around 65 per cent of over 55s are e-illiterate, the survey said. Slovenia. Luxembourg and Denmark are the most e-savvy nations, whereas a quarter of adults in the UK admit they struggle with basic computer tasks. Hungary, Greece and Italy emerged with as hosting the lowest numbers of computer-competent adults. For all 25 countries, higher education was a key indicator, as 89 per cent of University respondents proved basic IT literacy. Jun 23, 2006 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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