The cost to business of £21bn is more than the Home Office's annual budget and, according to Mr Sutherland, is "twice as big as the cost to business of traditional physical attack". He said "the days of walking into bank with a stocking over your head and a sawn-off shotgun are over" and criminals were increasingly operating online where the chance of being detected were much smaller. "Industrial espionage' He added: "As crime's gone digital, this report estimates for the first time the real cost of cyber crime to the UK. "By understanding that business bears the burden of over three quarters of the £27bn cost of cyber crime we are better placed to defend and protect assets crucial to every business sector in today's interconnected market place. "The next step is to formulate a more targeted response to IP theft and industrial espionage in particular". Nearly half of the £21bn cost to business is made up of intellectual property theft - which included illegal downloading and file sharing. But industrial espionage, such as the theft of designs and commercial secrets, was also a significant problem. Intellectual property theft cost £9.2bn, industrial espionage £7.6bn, this was followed by extortion, which cost £2.2bn, and direct online theft, which cost business £1.3bn. Some £1bn was lost through theft of customer data. The hardest-hit sectors were pharmaceuticals, biotech, electronics, IT and chemicals. More on This Story Related Stories 03 FEBRUARY 2011, POLITICS 16 FEBRUARY 2011, POLITICS 16 FEBRUARY 2011, TECHNOLOGY 04 FEBRUARY 2011, UK 20 JANUARY 2011, BUSINESS 16 DECEMBER 2010, POLITICS Related Internet links The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet Share this page
The cost to business of £21bn is more than the Home Office's annual budget and, according to Mr Sutherland, is "twice as big as the cost to business of traditional physical attack". He said "the days of walking into bank with a stocking over your head and a sawn-off shotgun are over" and criminals were increasingly operating online where the chance of being detected were much smaller. "Industrial espionage' He added: "As crime's gone digital, this report estimates for the first time the real cost of cyber crime to the UK. "By understanding that business bears the burden of over three quarters of the £27bn cost of cyber crime we are better placed to defend and protect assets crucial to every business sector in today's interconnected market place. "The next step is to formulate a more targeted response to IP theft and industrial espionage in particular". Nearly half of the £21bn cost to business is made up of intellectual property theft - which included illegal downloading and file sharing. But industrial espionage, such as the theft of designs and commercial secrets, was also a significant problem. Intellectual property theft cost £9.2bn, industrial espionage £7.6bn, this was followed by extortion, which cost £2.2bn, and direct online theft, which cost business £1.3bn. Some £1bn was lost through theft of customer data. The hardest-hit sectors were pharmaceuticals, biotech, electronics, IT and chemicals. More on This Story Related Stories 03 FEBRUARY 2011, POLITICS 16 FEBRUARY 2011, POLITICS 16 FEBRUARY 2011, TECHNOLOGY 04 FEBRUARY 2011, UK 20 JANUARY 2011, BUSINESS 16 DECEMBER 2010, POLITICS Related Internet links The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet Share this page
cybercrime_costs_27bn_a_year.docx