Cybercrime Statistics Interpretation

Though cybercrime statistics surveys are often distributed to system administrators inquiring about enterprises’ annual computer crime experienced (that is, the methods employed by crackers, the frequency of system intrusions, the systems affected, and the dollar amounts lost because of the exploit or series of exploits) and the suspected identity of the crackers, these statistics need to be viewed with caution. One reason for caution is that often there are errors in the transmission of fact by the system administrators. Moreover, errors in reporting data may occur because no matter how honest the survey respondents try to be, a number of crimes go undetected and are therefore underreported by system administrators. Also, some system administrators may choose not to report known intrusions because of possible economic backlash for the enterprise, such as the loss of consumer confidence. In fact, the CSI/FBI annual survey findings indicate that even when intrusions are detected on system networks, only about 30% of these are ever reported to legal authorities.

See Also: Crackers; CSI/FBI Survey; Intrusion.