The federal government should step in and pass laws to ensure computer security, the CEO of Symantec told a security conference Tuesday. In the last six months of 2007, nearly 50 million people worldwide were the victims of identity theft, and 70 percent of the most common malicious code used in attacks on computers targeted confidential files. Loss or theft of laptops or storage devices account for 57 percent of data loss worldwide; 65 percent of new software created today is malicious code; and there is a black market for stolen files and data.