The annual cost of cybercrime has hit $600 billion worldwide, fueled by growing sophistication of hackers and proliferation of criminal marketplaces and cryptocurrencies, researchers said Wednesday. A report by the security firm McAfee with the Center for Strategic and International Studies found theft of intellectual property represents about one-fourth of the cost of cybercrime in 2017, and that other attacks such as those involving ransomware are growing at a fast pace. Russia, North Korea and Iran are the main sources of hackers targeting financial institutions, while China is the most active in cyber espionage, the report found. Criminals are using cutting-edge technologies including artificial intelligence and encryption for attacks in cyberspace, with anonymity preserved by using bitcoin or other cryptocurrency, the researchers said. “We are seeing the bad actor community taking advantage of the innovation in the technology industry,” Steve Grobman, chief technology officer for McAfee, told a news conference in Washington. Even though these technologies can offer “tremendous value” when used for legitimate purposes, they also can be adopted by criminals to hide their tracks, Grobman said. The McAfee-CSIS report suggested cybercrime costs were rising from a 2014 estimate of $445 billion. “We were hoping it would flatten, but we didn’t see that,” said CSIS vice president James Lewis. One of the reasons for the increase, according to Lewis, is that “there’s a whole ‘dark web’ phenomenon that creates a safe space for criminals to operate.” These dark web marketplaces, the report noted, allow hackers and other criminals to… [Read full story]
Cancer cost the then 27 countries of the European Union 126 billion euros ($170.1 billion) in 2009, according to a study published on Monday. The bill mainly comprised 51 billion euros in costs for health-scare systems, including drugs; 23 billion euros in unpaid care provided by friends and relatives of people with cancer; and 52 billion euros in lost productivity due to premature deaths and illness. Britain, France, Germany and Italy accounted for most than two-thirds of the cost. Four types of cancer -- breast, colorectal, lung and prostate -- contributed to around half of all new cancer diagnoses and…... [read more]
Six people were arrested and charged on Monday for participating in a worldwide ATM heist that stole $45 million from two Middle East banks. The five men and one woman, all residents of the New York City suburb of Yonkers, were accused of being members of a global cybercrime organization that stole Mastercard Inc debit-card information, according to an announcement from Loretta Lynch, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for Lynch's office, declined to comment on where the cybercrime organization is based, saying the investigation was ongoing. The six arrested Monday were…... [read more]
Microsoft said it teamed with the FBI to disrupt armies of hacked computers used to commit more than a half-billion dollars in financial fraud around the world. SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft said it teamed with the FBI to disrupt armies of hacked computers used to commit more than a half-billion dollars in financial fraud around the world. A strike coordinated with police and financial institutions disabled more than a thousand "botnets" used by a global cybercrime operation to steal people's banking information and identities, according to the software colossus. Botnets are networks of computers infected with viruses that let them be…... [read more]
High levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may have less of an impact on the rate of global warming than feared, a study said Thursday. The authors of the study funded by the US National Science Foundation stressed that global warming is real, and that increases in atmospheric CO2, which has doubled from pre-industrial standards, will have multiple serious impacts. But the more severe estimates, such as those put forth by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, are unlikely, the researchers found in their study published in the journal Science. The 2007 IPCC report estimated that surface…... [read more]
File photo of a man looking at computer code. (Photo: AFP/Joe Raedle) SINGAPORE: Companies in the Republic lost nearly S$2 billion last year due to data loss or unplanned downtime arising from illicit cyber activities — a fact not lost on insurance companies, which are beginning to offer protection to firms here as cyberattacks become increasingly sophisticated.But as the industry gears up to offer coverage, which can include the cost of investigative work and rectification, market watchers say a general lack of awareness, underestimation of the risks of security threats and few precedents for designing and setting premiums are impediments.While…... [read more]
