Businesses are facing direct losses to computer
criminals of at least £2.4bn a year, research to be published today
by the NationalHi-Tech Crime Unit will
reveal.
The volume of computer crime has increased over the past 12
months, with nearly 90%, of companies experiencing at least one
incident of computer crime, up from 83% a year ago.
The survey, conducted for the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit by
National Opinion Polls, follows renewed calls for more police
funding to cut the cost of computer crime to the UK economy.
Organised criminal groups are replacing students and amateur
hackers as the main threat, Mick Deats, acting head of the National
Hi-Tech Crime Unit, will reveal at today’s E-Crime Congress.
"There has been a shift in the professionalism of the groups
involved. The days of the hobbyist hacker are over. Now it is
professional, it is full-time and it is lucrative," he said.
Malware, including Trojans designed to steal bank passwords, bot
net programs capable of launching denial of service attacks,
computer viruses and worms present the biggest threat, the Hi-Tech
Crime Unit said.
Employers’ group the Confederation of British Industry has
described the trend as "worrying" and renewed its calls for greater
resources to be allocated to high-tech policing.
"We have urged the government to allocate additional financial
and logistical resources to strengthen the National Hi-Tech Crime
Unit’s work in the UK and internationally," said CBI senior policy
adviser Susan Daley.
Peter Sommer, security researcher at the London School of
Economics, said the government had provided almost no new funding
for cybercrime since the crime unit was launched in 2001.
Compared to the £60m allocated by the government to fund a
quango to specify standards for school meals, £5m a year for
high-tech crime looks paltry, he said.
"The amount of money available for the high-tech training centre
in Bedford was reduced by 30% last year. It remains a fact that
were it not for some enthusiastic lower-rank officers, we would not
be getting a good service from the UK police," Sommer said.
David Lacey, director of security at the Royal Mail and founder
of the Jericho security group, said, "Without long-range
development of expertise across the police force, we simply will
not be able to cope with the level of computer crime."
Ensure staff are not your weakest link
Mick Deats, acting head of the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit,
advised firms to take an holistic approach to e-security. This
means ensuring staff are aware of dangers, as well as having
network security.
"The biggest issue is making sure you have vetted your staff and
your contractors. You can put all your procedures on paper, but you
have to make sure they are implemented. If you have staff you have
taken on in a hurry without references, that can undermine
everything," he said.