The number of e-crime incidents reported by UK business
has risen by 20% over the past year, according to the head to the
National Hi-Tech Crime Unit.
Despite the figures, there are signs of progress in the fight
against cybercrime, according to John Lyons, NHTCU crime reduction
co-ordinator, who was due to speak at the City IT event.
He told Computer Weekly the figures showed companies are more
willing to report hacking and other related electronic
crimes.
"The 20% increase over the year is partly because of our
'confidentiality charter', which has gone down extremely well with
business," he said.
"We consulted with businesses beforehand and therefore they feel
ownership of the process. Companies are talking to each other about
what we can do, and the work the NHTCU has done to communicate
crime reduction education is paying off.
"We have also seen a significant shift in international
co-operation between law enforcement agencies. We send each other
data now and let the paperwork follow later."
The NHTCU is working closely with banking associations including
the Association for Payment Clearing Services and the British
Banking Association as well as City of London special interest
groups to help disseminate crime reduction advice to their members,
Lyons said.
But he warned companies to beware of a trend for hackers and
spamming groups to work together to spread junk e-mails and launch
attacks.
"Hacking groups are getting in with purveyors of spam e-mail and
selling them hidden Trojans to further propagate spam," he
said.
Lyons also warned that hackers were launching attacks more quickly
after a vulnerability in an operating system becomes public. This
required companies to patch vulnerable systems more rapidly.
Lyons also urged companies to ensure that laptops with sensitive
commercial data are encrypted.
