Cybercrime cost world economy more than $600 billion; Intellectual Property & banking sector prime targets

Washington: The scope of the threats in the cyberspace is increasing by the day and the cybercrimes have costed the world economy to the tune of $600 billion. In rupee terms, this is an astronomical equivalent of ₹40 lakh crore. The leading US think tank, ‘Centre for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) and the cyber security company ‘McAfee’ have disclosed this shocking information in their report.

The report published three years ago, had pegged the figure of loss to the world economy at a staggering $44 billion. The new report shows an increase of 35% in three years. In 2017, these cybercrimes had cost about $600 billion to the world economy and as compared to the expanse of the world economy, it amounts to a significant 0.8%.

The criminals involved in ‘Cybercrime’ are quickly adopting to the latest technology with ease and ‘Ransomware’ is the most used tool for the criminal activities, warns the report. ‘Cybercrime’ in no more a part only of the criminal world but is increasingly becoming a ‘service’ offering. Attention has been drawn to the fact that more than 6000 marketplaces are active for supplying the ransomware services on the internet.

The report titled the ‘Economic Impact of Cybercrime – No Slowing Down’, also highlights the issues of ‘Ransomware’ supplied by the providers of the ‘Cloud Services’, increasing use of cryptocurrency in this sector and the movement of this sector towards an independent economy. The report says that the prime targets of cybercrime are ‘Banking’ and ‘intellectual property’ (IP). The theft if Intellectual property rights (IPR) and the confidential information is the highest, which is about 25% of the total crimes.

Hackers from Russia, Iran and North Korea lead the pack in the crimes against banks and other financial institutions. The report says that China is the most active country in the theft of confidential information from the cyberspace. ‘CSIS’ Senior Vice President, James Lewis has expressed concern that Brazil, Vietnam and India are emerging as the new centres for cybercrimes.

A few days ago, the United States also had published a report on cyber security. The report says that the US economy suffered losses of more than $100 billion in 2016.