The word "Hacker" had its first citation in the Historical Dictionary of American
Slang in 1971 by Fred Shapiro.

In today's world as individuals and corporate bodies we are relying more and more on the Internet for everyday transactions, communications and processes.The term hacker today
con-notates someone who aims to breach a system and wreak havoc, which in reality is incorrect. A true hacker is one who in a nutshell , takes a system apart, exposes vulnerabilities and suggests means of resolution or improvement.

Bear in mind that while an unauthorized breach of a company's system can occur in many ways,and a true professional will remain undetected, companies can take steps to make an authorized breach as near impossible as possible and can harden their systems against the potential of a breach. Some steps are as follows:

1) Ensure that firewalls and IDS( intrusion detection systems) are installed,updated and patches are regulated and installed in a timely manner.
2) Segregate systems by levels of access
3)Do not have secured databases linked to general databases
4)Constantly have system users change passwords for access.
5)For Web content -test and update software to guard against SQL injection and Cross site scripting amongst others.
6)Use frames,ensure that they are encrypted.Bear in mind that encryption can be circumvented with time and powerful tools. So the idea will be to cycle your encryption after a time.
7)Monitor and test or call in an independent trusted PEN Tester.

Companies that call in independent Penetration testers (PEN Tester) allows the tester to perform an active analysis of their system for potential vulnerabilities as a result of improper system configuration,hardware or software flaws, or operational flaws in technical countermeasures. The tester will mimic the actions of a potential attacker via active exploitation of any security vulnerabilities.

Once testing is completed any security issues found is presented to the client with a proposal for mitigation or a solution. The penetration test points out the feasibility of an attack and the effect it has on business.

According to McAfee and Datamonitor's Global Survey:
"Data breach that exposes personal information will cost companies $238,000 to inform their customers even if the info was not used."

References
EBSL Technologies Int'l www.ebizstrat.com
Datamonitor www.datamonitor.com
Wikipedia

Learn more about this author, Rav Gagan S.
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