Cyber crime – a costly business
According to a new study, the total economic impact of cyber crime is an eye-popping US$600 billion – approximately 0.8 per cent of total global GDP. The highest of these losses come from businesses in the Asia-Pacific (APAC), with this region accounting for around $380 billion (equivalent to 0.9 per cent of regional GDP).
The figures, which come from global report Economic Impact of Cybercrime - No Slowing Down from cybersecurity company McAfee and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, represent a major leap from a similar study from four years ago, which estimated global economic losses from cyber crime at around $445 billion. At that time, the APAC region comprised $180 billion of this total.
This major leap in costs has been put down to the adoption by cyber criminals of new technologies, which make it ever easier to engage in the types of activities that result in cyber fraud and the loss of intellectual property and confidential information.
“Consider the use of ransomware,” said Steve Grobman, McAfee’s Chief Technology Officer, “where criminals can outsource much of their work to skilled contractors. Ransomware-as-a-service cloud providers efficiently scale attacks to target millions of systems, and attacks are automated to require minimal human involvement. Add to these factors cryptocurrencies that ease rapid monetisation, while minimising the risk of arrest, and you must sadly conclude that the $600-billion cybercrime figure reflects the extent to which our technological accomplishments have transformed the criminal economy as dramatically as they have every other portion of our economy.”
The report recommends that businesses adopt uniform security measures, invest heavily in defensive technology, improve co-operative efforts with law enforcement agencies, and push for progress on a formal global treaty surrounding cyber crime.