The BBC has begun airing a six-part series, presented by British technologist, writer and “futurist†Ben Hammersley.
Called “Cybercrimes with Ben Hammersley,†the series was produced in partnership with The Open University. It looks at the range of cybercrime – from the scam emails that fill up our inboxes to drugs and guns that can be bought anonymously on what is called the shadowy business of “darknet,†and even governments spying on their own citizens.
Hammersley emphasizes that 2013 was a very bad year for cybercrime in businesses. He notes: “In February, $45 million was stolen from ATMs around the world after cyber criminals hacked credit cards and gave them unlimited withdrawal limits. Then, in November, 40 million credit card numbers were removed from the point-of-sale terminals of US retailer Target.â€
We’ve chronicled other recent major breeches here. The fact is, major data breaches are occurring at a regular pace now, and are having an impact on our most standard, or reliable, institutions.
The global annual cost of cybercrime has been estimated at several hundred billion dollars. PwC’s 2014 Global Economic Crime Survey found that 7% of US organizations lost $1 million or more due to cybercrime incidents in 2013; furthermore, 19% of US entities reported financial losses of $50,000 to $1 million.
As Hammersly points out, ” Cybercrime affects each and every one of us. Every aspect of our lives is vulnerable to the criminal abuse of our networked world…â€
It’s good to see the issue of cybercrime getting more in-depth attention in mainstream venues such as the BBC… I’m hoping there will be a large audience tuning in for what promises to be a very interesting and educational series. The more educated people are, the better equipped we all will be to protect ourselves online.
Of course, cybercrime is a major issue to us at AVG: Our mission is to secure devices, data and people – and we are always working to give people and businesses the tools and information they need to better protect themselves online. We haven’t talked about it a lot, but AVG Innovations Lab monitors current trends and develops software and apps to meet the needs of today’s consumer – as well as looks to future vulnerabilities to meet those needs too. In fact, we will be showcasing some of the work of our labs –including solutions to growing threats in mobile and the Internet of Things– during a press-only event we are calling “AVG Experiential Lab,†in San Francisco on Sept. 18.
