According to the U.S. Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics, by 2000 more than 300 million users around the globe accessed the World Wide Web. Of those, at least 1 million were engaged in illegal Internet activities (computer crime or "cyber-crime"). Cyber-crimes include Internet-related forgery, embezzlement, fraud, vandalism, and the disposal of stolen goods. The potential threat to the overall development of e-commerce was serious—so much so that online security expenditures were expected to double to $30 billion in 2004.
The Computer Crime and Security Survey, issued by the Computer Security Institute (CSI) and the FBI, reported that 85 percent of the 538 firms and governmental institutions surveyed found security breaches in 2000. Sixty-five percent admitted that such breaches had caused financial losses. The 186 respondents willing to quantify their losses claimed they totaled $378 million, a 42-percent increase from 1999 and the highest amount recorded since the surveys began in 1995. Seventy percent cited their Internet connections as the source of security problems.
Perhaps 80 percent of all computer-related crimes result from insider attacks, sometimes perpetrated by recently laid-off employees with still-active computer accounts. Fraud and forensic experts reported that organized crime and terrorist groups recruit telecommunications workers to use telephone networks to commit fraud, piracy, and money laundering.
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