I like to mention the topic of computer security from time to time, even though I occasionally get the feeling that many other people care about the topic.
Veerle’s Blog has a post called “Security, the reality . . .” that paints a compelling, if bleak, picture of the current state of computer security.
Veerle discusses a quite a few startling facts and figures, but the numbers that grabbed my attention were these:
Odds of winning the lottery: 1 in 135,145,920 (0.000000739 percent)
Odds of getting audited by the IRS: 0.58 percent of individual returns
Odds of getting struck by lightning: 300 in 294,330,406 (0.0000102 percent)
Odds of becoming a victim of computer security breach: 7 in 10 (70 percent)
Required reading, at least for the less than 60% of computer users who remember when they last updated their security protection software. Veerle promises a number of follow-up posts, including a set of recommendations for improving your security.