Cybercrime More Lucrative Than Drugs 282
prostoalex writes "Yahoo is reporting that global cybercrime overtook global drug trafficking in terms of revenue this past year. In related news, only 4% of Internet users can flag 100% of phishing e-mails as fraudulent, and Americans filed 207,000 reports on cybercrime to FBI."
dotCrime Bubbles (Score:5, Interesting)
Cybercrime requires constant training, otherwise your hacking skills can be out of date in just a few months. On the contrary, a crowbar-trained criminal can still make a living in today's high-tech security world.
I foresee in 5-10 years' time, traditional crimes will go mainstream again as many cyber-criminals will be out of jobs^H^H^H^Hcrimes by then.
Oil (Score:5, Interesting)
No new law needed (Score:5, Interesting)
All kidding aside, I don't personally believe in cybercrime. Some cybercrime victims are merely stupid users, and no law can fix them. Other cybercrimes that do disturb one's property should be covered by laws already in place.
My fear is that defending the cybercrime idea will only help make more wealthy lawyers and give politicians more abusive power.
So, when I (Score:1, Interesting)
10% (Score:2, Interesting)
I wonder if aggregate underground economy percentages have increased, or if more traditional underground trade has just moved online.
Inflated numbers (Score:4, Interesting)
With the stock manipulation, this is also a pretty nebulous number. Did they include only verified cases of people doing this? What did they consider manipulation? The article is very thin.
Definition of 'cybercrime' (Score:5, Interesting)
That's a pretty open-ended definition. So is old-school white collar insider trading or shenanigans now Cyber-Crime just because they do it from a workstation? It'd be interesting to see just what is a cyber-crime now and how it breaks down into that total 150 billion dollars they just throw out there. Of course such data might pop the balloon of FUD as delicious as this.
Re:min wage (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Definition of 'cybercrime' (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:4% is not measuring what you think it is (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:No new law needed (Score:3, Interesting)
I pass on so many contracts daily because the power of contract is now only a corporate priviledge. I won't sign anything without cutting out portions, and often companies won't let me be a customer without accepting their contract. In a market where people's expectations are tied to a contract, I doubt this would happen.
Con men take advantage of people who think they have government to protect them. Guess what? Government protection of your stupidity comes from robbing me of my money. No thanks.
Re:No new law needed (Score:4, Interesting)
That's like saying you don't believe in wire fraud, or don't believe in insurance scams. The point is that it's a class of criminal activity that wouldn't exist without the internet. The internet doesn't create those crimes, but those particular crimes couldn't exist without it. Just like cars don't cause auto theft, but without which, it wouldn't happen. Do you believe in the theft of automobiles? I don't need to believe in it - it's real no matter what I label it.
Some cybercrime victims are merely stupid users
Which users are those? Surely you're not suggesting that people, out of stupidity, inadvertantly transfer their life's savings into an offshore bank account owned by the Russian mob? Or do you mean users that are so dumb that they accidentally go online and have expensive electronics shipped to someone they don't know in the Bronx? Maybe it's stupid users that are so dumb that somehow they cause someone else to get a line of credit with their personal info? Obviously that's all BS... only the actions of the Bad Guys can actually leverage someone's ignorance and steal their money or fraudulently use their ID in the commission of a crime. Again: you don't have to believe in those acts... they're happening all around you, and not just because someone's grandma isn't savvy enough to see through a phishing scheme. The fact of her ignorance doesn't cause the guy in Russia using a zombie machine in Korea to send her that fake e-mail and then run off with her cash or reputation. Her igornance is a weakness, just like the glass windows on your house are a weakness that another sort of criminal easily exploits.
My fear is that defending the cybercrime idea will only help make more wealthy lawyers and give politicians more abusive power.
If you're worried about that, then why worry about other compartmentalized flavors of crime? Securities fraud involves some particular methods, practitioners, and types of victims. Enough so that we have a special name for it, even though it's still just basically deceit and theft. If specialized pursuit and prosecution of a certain type of crime is just going to make lawyers rich and politicians abusive, then would you recommend backing off of the guys that ran Enron's investors into the ground because we already have laws against theft and fraud?
We live in a highly specialized civilization, and need to deal with criminal specialists with specilialized laws and enforcement.
Re:Curbing malware and cyberthreats (Score:2, Interesting)
I particularly liked:
Seemingly uttered without a trace of irony!