Online crime''s impact spreads (1/2ページ)

There appears to be no end to the cybercrime wave despite daily headlines about the latest computer breach and the best efforts of hundreds of security companies.

The latest estimate: $200 billion a year, rivaling the illicit markets for drug trafficking and money laundering, says Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at computer-security firm F-Secure.

Hypponen was among scores of computer-security experts here this week to discuss how data theft and Internet-enabled financial fraud have evolved into a global enterprise as sophisticated and responsive to economic principles as any other industry.

"International crime 10 years ago was drugs and money laundering," says Hypponen. Yet, Interpol, the international crime-fighting organization, has only a 65 million euro annual budget (about $102 million in U.S. dollars) to fight crime, he says.

The onslaught has had a wide-ranging impact, based on the topics of panels, reports and surveys released during the conference.

- In online, we don't trust. The hazards of surfing and shopping online have shaken consumer confidence in e-commerce.

Nearly 60 percent of Americans are fearful someone will steal their account passwords when they bank online, and 38 percent do not trust making payments online, according to a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted by TNS Sofres on behalf of digital-security company Gemalto.

- Banking threats. Consumers are warranted in their fears. Bank accounts were the most commonly advertised item for sale on underground computer servers, accounting for 22 percent of all items in the last six months of 2007, according to a Symantec report this week.