Auditor warns on computer security

Computer viruses could cost WA millions of dollars and bring government departments to a halt because of lax computer security regimes, the Auditor-General has warned. The warning came as major businesses, including Westpac, tried to protect their networks against the Sasser worm, which is the latest computer bug to sweep the world. In his report tabled in the Legislative Assembly yesterday, Auditor-General Des Pearson found that seven of nine government agency computer sites examined had been infected previously by viruses.

The identity of the agencies was kept secret for fear of alerting hackers to the weaknesses.

"Had the viruses been of a more malicious nature, disruption to agency operations would have resulted in costs running into the millions of dollars," Mr Pearson said.

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