A small number of gangs lie behind many incidents and locking them up would be far more effective than telling the public to fit an anti-phishing toolbar or purchase antivirus software.
—Professor Ross Anderson
The cost of protecting ourselves against cybercrime can far exceed the cost of the threat itself. This is the conclusion of a recent report ‘Measuring the cost of cybercrime’ by an international team of scientists led by the University of Cambridge.
On the basis of the findings – which provide the first systematic estimate of the direct costs, indirect costs and defence costs of different types of cybercrime for the UK and the world – the authors conclude that we should spend less in anticipation of cybercrime and more on catching the perpetrators.
“Advances in information technology are moving many social and economic interactions, such as fraud or forgery, from the physical worlds to cyberspace,” said lead author Ross Anderson, Professor of Security Engineering at the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory. “As countries scramble to invest in security to minimise cyber-risks, governments want to know how large that investment should be and where the money should be spent.”
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Image: Keyboard Credit: Jeroen Bennink on flickr
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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