HIGH TIDE CRIME WAVE 06/04/2005

A study from the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit has revealed that hi-tech crime can be costing companies in the UK upwards of £2.45bn a year. The survey studied 200 companies surveyed, with 89 percent stating they had suffered from hi-tech crime within the last twelve months. Some 90 percent suffered from unauthorised access to, or penetration of, their company systems, while 89 percent suffered theft of information or data.

The most common complaint was about virus, with 97 percent of respondents having had experienced a variety virus attacks, which had cost them almost £71m. Financial fraud also proved to be a major problem and had cost nine percent of those asked, over £68m.

The most alarming figure to be raised by the survey, revealed that over 25 percent of those questioned did not actively carry out security audits of their equipment or premises.

Speaking on the survey, Detective Superintendent Mick Deats, Deputy Head of the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit said, “Billions of pounds are being lost to the UK economy through hi-tech crime, but on a positive note, we should acknowledge the increased effort put in by companies to protect themselves and their customers from this threat. The sharing of information between business and law enforcement is giving us the tools to put in place better defences to tackle hi-tech crime. It is only through better understanding of the scale and the scope of the problem that we will be able to build effective strategies to deal with it."