Cyber crime generates more money than drug trafficking

Bangalore: With more and more people going online and social networking becoming pervasive, cyber crime now generates more money than drug trafficking, says global cyber security solutions provider Symantec."Cyber crime has surpassed drug trafficking as a criminal money-maker. Every three seconds, an identity is stolen worldwide," Symantec Consumer Business Unit Vice-President for Asia-Pacific David Freer told IANS. Cyber crime is perpetrated by hackers through a spate of attacks in the form of malware, spam, virus and bots when computers are connected to the Internet.Hackers use spyware, fake anti-virus applications, e-mail and phishing to trick netizens into parting with their personal data and even money."Phony e-mails, fake websites and online advertisements trick netizens into divulging personal data such as social security and credit card numbers," Freer said at a demo of Symantec's Norton anti-virus 2010 product here.The company's latest Internet security product equips computers to fight cyber crime with new detection technology.Symantec's data showed cyber criminals not only steal personal information such as identity, profile and credit card numbers but also sell it to the highest bidder on the online black market.During the beta testing of Norton 2010, Symantec detected and blocked a whopping 245 million attempted malicious code attacks every month the world over in 2008."The increasing use of Internet and web for a plethora of services and applications has made computers vulnerable to malicious attacks," Freer said.Convergence of information and communication technologies (ICT), globalisation and exponential growth of information have enabled transacting goods and services in the form of e-commerce and mobile commerce."The phenomenal growth of Internet traffic for mailing, surfing, browsing, social networking, buying or selling expose netizens to online thieves who will stop at nothing to steal anything, be it money, identity, signature and even names," Symantec Marketing Head in Asia-Pacific David Hall said