The survey, conducted by NOP and released at the NHTCU's 2004
e-crime congress in London, consulted 201 companies, 25% of which
had over 10,000 employees. Eighty-three percent of those surveyed
said that they had experienced some form of hi-tech crime in the
course of the last year, costing them an estimated
£195,153,000.
Sixty-two percent of respondents had suffered some form of
internet-related financial fraud, with three companies from the
financial sector suffering a total loss of £60 million as a
result.
Seventy-seven percent of respondents said they had experienced
virus attacks (up from 67% in 2002), which had cost them
£27,890,000, and criminal use of the internet, primarily by
employees, was experienced by 17% at a cost of £23,057,500.
Hynds commented: "Whilst it is too early to put an accurate
figure on the total financial impact for UK business all the
indicators suggest that we are talking about billions rather than
millions."
