A Cybercrime Epidemic? Not Really

Is cybercrime on the rise or are more people complaining about it?  It’s tough to say.

According to a Gallup poll released today, 11% of  U.S. adults claim that they or a member of their household was the victim of  a crime over their home computer in the past year. That’s up from the 6% to 8% levels found in the previous seven years.

“Computer/Internet crime is the only other type of crime that registers in the double digits this year,” Gallup says. “However, the next-most common — identify theft, at 8% — …  is down slightly from the 10% who reported identity theft in 2009, the first year Gallup asked about this type of crime.”

Before people get excited about rampant cyber crime — which does exist and is a serious issue — , it’s important to remember a few things.  First, practically every media story about cybersecurity such as hackers and viruses, quotes experts from security firms who have a vested interest in scaring the bejesus out of the public about dangers lurking behind every website. Moreover, there is more crime online because there are increasing numbers of transactions being done there.  Criminals go where there are opportunities.

There is plenty of money to be made in cybersecurity.  The U.S. government is expected to spend $13.3 billion by 2015 to bolster and maintain its technological defenses.  Private industry spends billions as well.  It seems to be paying off.  A cybercrime survey published by CSO (Chief Security Officer) magazine in January found that the average value of losses attributed to cyber crime fell 10% between 2007 and 2009.  The number of attacks increased during that time period.

“This can likely be attributed to an increase in both IT security spending (42 percent) and corporate/physical security spending (86 percent) over the past two years,”  CSO says.   “And yet, as technology advances, so do the attack methods, and many respondents worry that the bad guys are still winning.”

Last year, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) website received 336,655 complaint submissions, up 22.3% increase as compared to 2008. Of the complaints  submitted to IC3, 146,663 were referred to law enforcement agencies for further consideration. Most of the referred cases alleged a financial loss by the complainant.

“The total dollar loss from all referred cases was $559.7 million with a median dollar loss of $575,” IC3 says. “This is up from $264.6 million in total reported losses in 2008.”

Interestingly, hackers are increasingly resorting to old-fashioned con artistry to gain rip off unsuspecting users.  This message is being hammered by computer security consultant and reformed hacker Kevin Mitnick.   He knows what he is talking about since that’s how he gained notoriety as a hacker.

When it comes to cybersecurity, when there is smoke there is not always fire.  Ironically, technology is not always the answer to the problems that do exist.

–Jonathan Berr