original source: unknown

percent of companies polled had reported system breaches -- up 16
percent over 1997. Total financial losses for the 241 companies in this 
group that could put a dollar figure on those losses was $136.8 million,
he said.That represented a 36 percent increase in reported losses over 
the 1997 figure of $100.1 million.Another study, by the CERT (Computer 
Emergency Response Team) security group at Carnegie Mellon University
"indicated a disturbing increase in the use of automated scripts," or
pre-configured hacking tools distributed over the Internet, "enabling