Computerworld had an interesting article on security and how much damage viruses are causing to the IT industry.  The article discusses the results of a joint research project undertaken by the EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) and AT&T.

The results are staggering: the damage caused by hacker attacks went up from US$ 3.3 billion in 1997 to 12 billion in 2003.  No wonder why security is one of the leading IT spending categories in terms of growth.  This year alone, enterprise security budgets are expected to increase by 13 percent. 

Another shocking fact uncovered by the research: 83 percent of these attacks are originated internally.  But here is the ultimate shocker: almost 4 out of every 5 employees admit to having clicked on an e-mail attachment sent from an unknown person last year.