Online Crime Likely to Pose More Threat to users than Conventional Crime

The numbers of Britons attacked by cybercrimes are estimated to exceed conventional crime during 2011, as reported by Mail Online on December 30, 2010.

Security experts claimed that around 19 Million people are targeted by hi-tech crimes and suffer from crimes related to identity theft.

A survey conducted by police officers mainly focusing on hi-tech crime in the UK, revealed that cybercrimes have increased by 79% during the past six months, as reported by Mail Online on December 30, 2010.

Further, as per the study, netizens using wi-fi system for accessing Internet at home are not at all secured. This indicates that there exist some possibilities for the hackers to compromise their systems and steal identity details. Moreover, thefts related to identity and the supposed malware attacks, whereby malware ridden spying software is unintentionally downloaded on to a computer system, are considered among the biggest and dangerous threats.

In fact, malware attacks are frequently increasing in the computing environment. With the development of Stuxnet in 2010, new types of exclusively crafted malware were formed. And hence, the world of cyber crime stepped into a new era. Stuxnet was a specially designed malware to evade striking against the average netizen.

Susan Daley, Government Affairs Officer at Norton admonished that cybercrimes will exceed enormously during 2011, as reported by Mail Online on December 30, 2010.

Security companies including Trend Micro and Symantec have also cautioned people about the exceeding risk of cybercrime and guided netizens to be careful towards their personal computers. According to the firms, netizens should protect their systems with efficient anti-malware products. Netizens are instructed to keep their operating system and applications up to date so as to avoid cyber attacks.

Security researchers have also cautioned netizens by saying that the malware epidemic is exploding and hackers in future will become more sophisticated.

Security experts further cautioned businesses to take necessary measures to protect their trade secrets. Businesses are advised to regularly scrutinizing their websites for malware attacks. Hence, in this way, they can operate a healthy business, protect their customers, their brand, and revenue.

Related article: Online Card Fraud Shows Greater Tendency Than Chip and Pin

» SPAMfighter News - 1/10/2011