Personal Perspective on Cybercrime

Some perceptions on how our perspective of cybercrime is influenced.

Simply stated; our perspective amounts to how we see things from where we stand. But our perspectives on issues and realities can be molded, encouraged or discouraged, and can change over time based on additional data.

For the sake of discussion, think about your perception of property crime, more particularly, burglary – versus your perception of cybercrime.

Let’s start with an example of a “newsworthy” burglary story, taken this week from my local newspaper:

ELECTRONICS STOLEN

An Xbox 360 Elite gaming console, Xbox games, an IBM ThinkPad laptop computer and $40 cash were stolen from a residence Tuesday, city police said. Police said the home was entered through an unlocked door sometime between 4 and 11:30 p. m.

My first thoughts, when I read this story were:

This is not news that I can use, except in the most limited sense.

The Internet, from a cybercrime perspective, is going to hell in a hand basket, and I have yet to read a cybercrime report of any significance in my local daily newspaper. So what gives?

Why does my local newspaper, along with the rest of the mainstream media do such an inadequate job of reporting on an epidemic of cybercrime that has serious consequences for its victims? And yet, continues to publish stories such as the one above, but not stories such as the one below.

Don’t get me wrong – I’ve been a victim of property crime – I know the feeling of outrage such a crime produces. But it was hardly devastating. Nor does it seem that an average burglary, at least in the U. S., is financially devastating.

Burglary Facts and Stats – FBI Uniform Crime Report 2005:

Property crime makes up slightly more than three-quarters of all crime in the United States.

In 2005, law enforcement agencies reported an estimated 2,154,126 burglary offenses-a 0.5-percent increase compared with 2004 data.

An examination of 5- and 10-year trends revealed a 1.8-percent increase in the number of burglaries compared with the 2001 estimate, and a 14.1-percent decline from the 1996 number.

Burglary accounted for 21.2 percent of the estimated number of property crimes committed in 2005. The average dollar loss per burglary offense in 2005 was $1,725.

Contrast those statistics with these cybercrime statistics:

A cyber crime goes down every ¼ of a second – a pretty startling statistic. What makes this statistic so astonishing is, unless you are in the Internet security business, you are probably unaware of this. You won’t get this information by reading your local newspaper.

More stats that shock:

One in four consumers is a cybercrime victim.

An identity is stolen every three seconds online.

Nearly 10,000,000 people have reported identity theft in the U.S. alone, in the last 12 months. Contrast this with 2,154,126 burglary victims in 2005.

Global cybercrime revenues exceed that of the international drug trade – HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of DOLLARS! Contrast this number with burglary losses of $37,158,000 in the U.S. in 2005.

A stolen identity can be bought on the Internet for as little as $100.

Stolen credit card numbers may sell for as little as $2 to $25.

Zombie computers are the main source of online fraud, spam and other scams on the internet.

I’ll borrow a concept from the Real Estate industry for a moment, and that is the concept of, “highest and best use”. The use of money can also be described in this way, but the following graphics illustrate how cybercrime can impact this concept, at both a personal and a societal level.

The graphics shown above, were clipped from a new video “Dangers on the Web” provided by Comodo Internet Security, in an effort to educate computer users, in an easy to understand format. To watch the entire video (3:28 minutes), click on the graphic below.

Is it reasonable to conclude then, that cybercrime is a more pressing problem, with more significant human costs overall, than burglary?  Well, if the above stats can be relied upon, and within reason, I think that they can, it seems to me that the answer is – yes.

Given that our perception of criminal activity is formed largely by the news media, why can’t we rely on the media to provide us with relevant news stories covering this issue, including the information necessary to protect ourselves?

Can we expect to see a refocusing on cybercrime by the media any time soon?

This article is not meant to be a thesis on the media’s lack of responsibility – just the jottings of a mystified consumer.

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