What is The cost of cybercrime? Firms lost $1 trillion to computer crime in 2008
Analysis by By Kevin Voigt, CNN
The first three months of 2011 has seen a record number of new malicious software, or "malware," released on the internet. Accounting the cost of cyber attacks, however, remains difficult as the crime is underreported, analysts say.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The cost of cybercrime has come into focus due to a recent spate of high profile attacks
- McAfee and SAIC estimates that firms lost $1 trillion to computer crime in 2008
- Analysts say computer-related security breaches often go unreported
- As computer devices proliferate, so do the opportunites for cyber criminals
"The information ended up being published, which saw sales plummet for the existing model as customers decided to wait for the new model," said the expert, who asked not to be named due to confidentiality agreements with the automaker.
China's 'Blue Army' of hackers
Yet that theft will never showed up in criminal statistics, nor will the cost be listed in public ledgers as cost due to "cybercrime." Murky by nature, cybercrime losses are difficult to categorize. That helps keep them hidden from the public eye by companies leery of publicizing breaches in corporate security.
The cost of cybercrime has come into focus due to a recent spate of high profile computer crimes: a hacker attack on Sony in May took its PlayStation Network down for 23 days after confidential information on tens of millions of network subscribers was breached; the company estimated the cost of that attack will total $171 million.
The aerospace and defense titan Lockheed Martin announced it had "a significant and tenacious attack" on May 21 using data stolen from security token maker RSA, which was hacked itself in March. Google last week announced a scam that appeared to emanate from China that stole Gmail passwords in a targeted attack of hundreds of high profile U.S. and South Korean government officials, as well as journalists and Chinese activists.
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