Malicious computer hackers aggressively scan Irish electronic systems for vulnerability at least a dozen times a day, a study by Espion, Deloitte & Touche and Data Electronics has found.

The most recent results from the "Irish Honeynet" project - a research initiative to monitor hacking attacks in the Republic - show 614 separate attacks were recorded during October 2002.

The Honeynet is a group of computers designed to be compromised and attacked. The computers are set up without any particular security patches or other modifications and placed on the internet with monitoring tools to record the hackers.

The study has found that since April 2002 the number of attacks has increased month on month leaving project members with volumes of data to analyse.

It has also captured and analysed various methods, such as viruses and worms, used by hackers to attack Irish networks.