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Businesses concerned about 'escalation' in cyber fraud

Business leaders are becoming increasingly worried not just about the volume of online fraud, but the extent to which cyber-criminals are adapting their techniques to become as destructive as possible.

According to a new study carried out by Gatepoint Research on behalf of the US-based fingerprinting firm ThreatMetrix, a majority of corporate users are spending more time and effort shoring up their online defences.

Indeed, more than two in three of those polled said that preventing the spread of online fraud was now their number one computer protection priority, with many wary of the evolution being seen in the world of cyber crime, for example the increased use of botnets and social networking sites to hack into systems and obtain sensitive information.

"When speaking to companies about their fraud prevention plans a word I frequently hear is 'escalation'," explained Reed Taussig, chief executive of ThreatMetrix.

"Companies are genuinely concerned over the ability of cyber criminals to disrupt their businesses."

A recent study carried out by WhiteHat Security found that more than 60 per cent of websites have a critical or urgent security flax that needs fixing.

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