Would You Hack For Cash?

A report today shows that one in three teenagers would commit cyber-crime for money. While this may sound terrible, there was another report a couple of months ago that said that 79% of people steal company confidential  information when they leave a company. So, which would you rather … a third of the teenagers (who are probably boasting) or more than two thirds of your workforce (who actually do take the information)!

Of course, there is a more serious side here, I have been looking over the latest Internet Security Threat Report (which comes out soon), and the results we will publish are scary – not just with the number of threats that are going up, but also how ‘commercial’ some of the exploits are – such that anyone can use them if they put their mind to it. Of course the consequences mean that most won’t try, and with the commercialism comes organization and you don’t want to end up on the wrong side of the organized cyber-criminals.

It may be that cyber-crime looks like a quick way to make some money – especially if you are a teenager and believe all the things you read in the news. Undoubtedly there there is money to be made, otherwise cyber-crime wouldn’t exits, but it is like playing football… there are hundreds of thousands who do, but only a minuscule percentage who make a career out of it. (Unlike football, cybercrime is a criminal activity… at least football, at all levels, keeps you fit!) We need to instil cyber-security into our teenagers to help them keep safe online, not push ‘the dark side’.

April 3, 2009 | Filed Under cyber-crime 

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