Over the past few weeks, I participated in the creation of ZDNet's second annual Digital Defense Test. This live panel discussion, hosted by ZDNet editor in chief Dan Farber, focused on how we can protect ourselves against the latest security threats.

The panelists included Howard Schmidt, chief information security officer for eBay; Phyllis Schneck, national chair of FBI InfraGard; and Mark Graff, chief cybersecurity officer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It took place on September 24 before an audience of IT pros.

Take our test
The Digital Defense Text Webcast is now available online. You can watch it by clicking here. According to an exit poll, 91 percent of the audience members at the event said they planned to make changes in their company's security plans because of what they'd learned.

Ninety-one percent of the audience members said they planned to make changes in their company's security plans because of what they'd learned.

Although intended for professionals responsible for securing corporate networks, the Webcast is also informative and useful for individuals at work or at home. After all, we're all affected by viruses and worms, and we should learn how to shield ourselves from malicious code and other threats to our data and privacy.

The Webcast includes three scenarios based on real security breaches, which are used to show how we can prevent similar situations.

Some familiar scenarios
The first scenario focuses on a large law firm that, despite deploying protective firewalls and filters on its e-mail gateway, discovers that an invasive Internet worm has found its way inside the company network and crippled desktop PCs running the latest operating system from Microsoft.

Modeled after the consequences of the MSBlast worm within many large corporations, this scenario explores the ways a pernicious worm can invade an otherwise secure facility and what steps all workplaces (and homes) should take to prevent similar invasions in the future.

The second scenario begins with customers of a big-name software company receiving e-mail from someone claiming to have access to their credit records. Outraged, the customers demand to know what's going on. As the software vendor investigates what went wrong, we follow along and our panelists recommend steps the company could have taken to prevent this disaster.

Wireless, too
Finally, the third scenario looks at how wireless security is all too easily ignored in favor of convenience. Our test case tells the story of an advertising company that is competing for a new contract. To help employees prepare the proposal, the IT department rapidly rolls out a wireless network so that workers can stay connected to the network even when they're away from their desks.

The third scenario looks at how wireless security is all too easily ignored in favor of convenience.

However, after expending considerable effort on its proposal, the agency finds that a competitor has been snooping on the wireless net from a nearby hotel--and hijacking crucial competitive data through the network's security holes.

The Webcast offers more information about each scenario than I can convey in this column, so I urge you to check it out for yourself. You'll see what our audience and panelists advise, and you'll be able to say how you'd handle each scenario, too. Once you've watched the program, I'd love to hear your thoughts about it.

What do you think of this year's Digital Defense Test? What did you learn? Tell me about it--TalkBack to me!