Computer Security is Like Military Intelligence-A Contradiction.

As banks of all sizes push their on-line treasury management systems farther down the corporate food chain, their risk of being hacked rises, because the systems of smaller companies are typically less well- protected than bank systems.

So the more successful banks are selling service, the more vulnerable they are."You're joining [systems] together, and every time there's a join, you get a risk," says Alan Matthews, CEO of Rapid 7, a computer security firm. "You're creating more layers between end users, and anytime there are layers, you have danger."

This is a bigger problem than people think, says Matthews, because smaller banks and larger banks are …