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Cyber crime eats into company resources as criminal gangs advance

Companies are increasingly spending more resources on warding off internet crooks as cyber criminals become more aggressive, reports Computer Active.

The last few months have seen progressively more internet security breaches on various organisations as organised gangs join the bandwagon of cyber crooks.

According to Peter Hambling, chief information officer at Lloyd's of London, the company has noted a drop in what he calls 'the enthusiastic hacker', thrill seekers only interested in breaking through firewalls.

"Criminal behaviour has shifted to take advantage of electronic channels, and the people doing this are maturing and getting better at it," he said.

"I have to put more against an organised criminal gang than I do against a hobby-hacker."

He revealed 87 per cent of external email received by Lloyd's is either spam or infected with malware and up to 60 severe attacks on the company's corporate infrastructure are dealt with every day.

He said some applications used by employees can also cause security problems. A report issued earlier in the week also raised the same issue saying most security breaches occurred as a result of innocent employee action.

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