Cybercrime survey highlights external threat

Hackers and viruses pose the principal risk to e-business according to a new cybercrime survey. The study, which was sponsored by the Fraud Advisory Panel, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), PricewaterhouseCoopers and Armor Group in conjunction with Professor Paul Barnes of Nottingham Business School, found that the majority (45 per cent) of cyber attacks over the last year were carried out by hackers.13 per cent of assaults were undertaken by former employees; 13 per cent were the work of organised crime and 11 per cent of incursions originated with current employees. The results accord with findings of the Computer Security Institute/FBI 2001 Computer Crime and Security survey of US computer security professionals which indicated that, as businesses increase their presence online, the internet connection is rapidly becoming the most common penetration point.