Tuesday 24 February 2004 - News - Security
Cybercrime costing firms 'hundreds of millions'
Organised hi-tech criminals
are costing British industry hundreds of millions of pounds a year,
police said today.
Of 201 companies questioned in a survey, 167 had been affected by cybercrime in 2003, losing a total of £195 million. That included £121 million lost to fraud, £27.8 million because of computer virus attacks and £23 million to criminal use of the Internet, mostly by employees.
Companies affected by hi-tech crime suffered on average 254 virus attacks during the year, 15% had their corporate websites spoofed and 11% had data stolen. Of 44 financial services companies questioned, three alone were the victims of fraud in excess of £60 million.
The NOP survey for the UK's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHCTU), a specialist police division which tackles cybercrime, revealed the massive impact of the Internet as a tool for crooks.
Detective Chief Superintendent Len Hynds, head of the NHCTU, told a major crime conference in London today: "Organised crime is reliant upon apathy, upon human error, and upon an assumption that it is someone else's problem. The digital terrain can support each of these facets, providing career criminals with favourable conditions for expansion and diversification.
"Growing stronger with every attack, creating illicit wealth to bankroll other areas of criminality, and gathering experience and expertise with which to corrupt legitimate business, organised crime is both a threat and a competitor and industry cannot address the problem by ignoring it."
Max Herd
Of 201 companies questioned in a survey, 167 had been affected by cybercrime in 2003, losing a total of £195 million. That included £121 million lost to fraud, £27.8 million because of computer virus attacks and £23 million to criminal use of the Internet, mostly by employees.
Companies affected by hi-tech crime suffered on average 254 virus attacks during the year, 15% had their corporate websites spoofed and 11% had data stolen. Of 44 financial services companies questioned, three alone were the victims of fraud in excess of £60 million.
The NOP survey for the UK's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHCTU), a specialist police division which tackles cybercrime, revealed the massive impact of the Internet as a tool for crooks.
Detective Chief Superintendent Len Hynds, head of the NHCTU, told a major crime conference in London today: "Organised crime is reliant upon apathy, upon human error, and upon an assumption that it is someone else's problem. The digital terrain can support each of these facets, providing career criminals with favourable conditions for expansion and diversification.
"Growing stronger with every attack, creating illicit wealth to bankroll other areas of criminality, and gathering experience and expertise with which to corrupt legitimate business, organised crime is both a threat and a competitor and industry cannot address the problem by ignoring it."
Max Herd
