E-crime in the spotlight

Among the many unfortunate by-products of the recession is that it is expected to cause an increase in online crime, such as credit card details being stolen or other such data theft. Lloyd’s broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson predicted this week that there would be an “upsurge in e-crime as a direct result of the economic climate”.

Dawn Simmons, practice leader of the cyber and IT risk team at JLT said internet crime is particularly appealing to criminals for two key reasons: “The internet is like a shopping mall to would-be criminals and e-crime is increasingly a preferred option, as it is easier to carry out and harder to detect”.

One of the main reasons why many companies are vulnerable to cyber crime is that so-called “high-tech criminals” often have a greater understanding of the vulnerability of IT systems than the companies that are their victims. Michael Porteous, senior consultant at Aon Global Risk Consulting, has warned that many companies simply underestimate the risks to which they are exposed via their IT systems.

But while companies may be in the dark when it comes to understanding the potential risk they face, criminals are not. “Criminals are increasingly sophisticated and do understand it – they are becoming more organised, investing resources to identify and exploit small vulnerabilities in networks, which will result in large returns”, Porteous said.

An additional problem is that companies have little faith in the ability of the police to catch the perpetrators of e-crime. A survey by the Corporate IT Forum – which consists of 150 large corporations – found that 57 per cent of respondents said they thought incidents of e-crime “would not be investigated properly if reported”. The poll showed that, as a consequence, only four per cent of respondents said they “always report” incidents of e-crime – 60 per cent said they sometimes reported incidents, while 36 per cent rarely reported them.

With the power of the local constabulary to tackle e-crime limited, it’s important that companies take the time to develop a strategy that limits the risk because, otherwise, the criminals will be one step ahead of them. If they don’t, they are in danger of becoming victims of one of the estimated 3.5 million online crimes that take place each year.