Fraud survey reveals extent of cyber crime

Cyber crime is now the third commonest kind of economic crime within the UK.

According to a survey of just about 4,000 organisations by PwC, cyber crime is taking up from the various more conventional sorts of fraud and corruption.

William Beer, director of cyber security services at PwC, said: “Organisations face serious threats from cyber criminals from within in addition to outside. It's clear that senior executives have to take these risks more seriously. Almost four in ten respondents say their organisation doesn't have the aptitude to avoid and detect cyber crime.

“On top of this, we've discovered that organisations may not be clear about exactly what cyber crime is, whom it affects and what they should do to guard themselves.”

Just under half (46 per cent) of UK respondents perceived cyber crime as an external threat, assuming it originates from places consisting of China, India, Nigeria, Russia and the united states. However, the survey suggested that the perception of cyber crime is changing and that organisations are actually recognising the danger of cyber crime coming from inside.

“Reputational damage strikes an organisation at its core. The results can seriously damage the perception of a brand, resulting in lack of market share. As society becomes less tolerant of unethical conduct, businesses should ensure they place a premium on building public trust,” said Beer.

The majority of UK respondents reported fraud coming from outside their organisation, while over a 3rd found their very own employees were liable for the most important frauds. Greater than half (51 per cent) of UK respondents reported no less than one instance of commercial crime up to now twelve months, compared with the worldwide figure of 34 per cent. Nearly 1 / 4 of UK respondents said they'd experienced greater than 10 incidents of business crime over the last year.

Tony Parton, forensics partner at PwC, said: “The incontrovertible fact that 26 per cent of these who experienced an economic crime beforehand 365 days reported a cyber crime is especially alarming.

“This is a dramatic finding and marks the promotion of cyber crime to the premier league of fraud. In addition direct financial costs, there are other commercial consequences of cyber crime, including reputational/brand damage, poor employee morale or service disruption.

“During a downturn, the ‘corporate core' of an organisation tends to be hit the toughest, with severe resource cutbacks in areas which are the primary- and second-line defences against fraud, which include internal audits. Under-staffing and increased workloads might mean that internal fraud goes undetected, or that those completing our survey aren't sorting out about it.”