Canadians Are Attractive Targets For Digital Criminals

Cyber criminals are increasingly making Canadians their targets as professional, profit worthy attacks on Internet connected computers rise. This also has the support of young people expanding in ranks, said experts. CBC News Online published this as news on June 4, 2007.

While presenting McAfee's 2007 North American Criminology Report discussing organized crime and Internet in Toronto, Dave Marcus, a senior security strategist at the company said criminals flock around where they see easy money. CBC News Online published this on June 4, 2007.

At the release of a report by McAfee Inc. in Toronto in July 2005, Dr. James Lewis, senior fellow and director, Technology and Public Policy Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, accepted that over ten years they have come down from the status of amateurs to professionals. Now they successfully stay perched on their game. The organization, which is aware of the risk, cyber crime poses to companies and consumers reckon experiencing a difficult time controlling it. ItWorldCanada published Lewis' comments.

In another release of a report in July 2005, McAfee noted that bot-related incidents increased from nearly 3,000 in Q1 to about 13,000 in Q2 of 2005. Lewis indicated that criminal activity now stand at 69% of total Internet activity.

In a further update of the report, Dave Marcus said that since people in Canada spend longer hours working online and operate most of their routine activities on the Internet such as online banking, they are increasingly turning as favorite targets for digital criminals. CBC News Online published this in news on June 4, 2007.

Of the total 1.1 billion Internet workers across the globe, about 250 million belong to North America of which 22 million are in Canada comprising of 67.8% of the country's population. U.S. has 211.1 million Internet users or 69.9% of the total number the country's people. Such figures therefore make North Americans an enticing target.

Nicole Stampatori of IBM Canada said IT executives in his country have clearly taken the threat of cyber crime, whether from internal or external sources, seriously. CNW Group published this in news towards end of May 2007.

Related article: Canadian Retailer Faces Security Breach of Customer Credit Numbers

» SPAMfighter News - 6/16/2007