e-Crime
Our reliance on computers and the data they contain has increased significantly, to such an extent that when they don't work, or data has been lost, businesses lose money. System problems usually arise due to hardware faults or mis-configuration, but with the increased use of public networks like the internet, a much more dangerous threat has emerged.
Please view our Internet Security section for solutions to your online security issues
E-Crime Examples:
- Advance Fee Fraud
- Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
- Domain Name Renewal Scams
- Identity Theft - Phishing
- Intellectual Property (IP) Theft / Copying of Information
- Software Attack - Spyware
- Spam
- Theft of Laptop or Other Hardware
- Unsecured Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs)
- Virus Attacks
- Mobile Device Security
Accreditation: The text below is taken from http://www.ecrimewales.com/server.php?show=nav.8856
What is e-Crime?
E-Crime generally refers to a criminal activity where a computer or computer network is the source, tool, target, or place of a crime. Despite the inevitable references to ‘computers’ or ‘online activity’, e-Crime nevertheless encompasses a whole raft of ‘traditional’ crimes - such as fraud, theft, blackmail, forgeryand embezzlement.
E-Crime is notoriously difficult to detect and punish because of its sheer technical complexity and because unseen attackers can strike victims from hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
Due to the nature of e-Crime, and its ability to evolve with technology, new threats are emerging with an alarming degree of regularity and simply maintaining a better appreciation of the risks we face could have a significant effect on your ability to respond to them if the need arises.
Why Does It Affect Me?
The majority of businesses may be confident that their existing IT security precautions - invariably based on conventional, off-the-shelf anti-virus and firewall solutions - will provide them with sufficient protection from all significant online security threats. But, the fact remains that thousands of businesses every year still fall victim to e-Crime, despite having such precautions in place.
E-Crime is on the rise, with more and more sophisticated or creative ways of breaching IT security being unearthed every day. Simply relying on your existing IT security measures – if any – is unlikely to provide you with sufficient protection against today’s breed of hackers, scammers and virus designers that are able to overcome traditional security measures with relative ease.
“So why does it affect me?” Well, any business using a computer is at risk. If that computer or other electronic device is connected to the Internet, the risk is even greater and criminals know this. You know better than we do that the information on your IT system is extremely valuable, so taking every precaution to protect it is essential. Protecting you, your business and your staff from the most common electronic threats may cost no more than you spend on locks and alarms for your office, so why take the risk?
Examples of e-Crimes:
UK Government figures show that no fewer than 62 per cent of businesses were victims of an electronic crime in 2006 and the average cost of a company’s worst incident was £12,000.
In Wales alone it is estimated that attacks from e-criminals cost the economy more than £290m a year. This includes financial loss, interruption of business, theft of valuable data, identity theft or other deception caused by unauthorized and unwelcome access to computer systems. Add to that the potential cost to companies and other organizations of damaged reputations and you begin to understand the scale of the problem.
