A recent UK Cabinet Office report revealed some startling facts about cyber-crime in the UK. The report titled The Cost of Cyber Crime stated that the overall cost to the UK economy of cyber crime is £27bn per year. This is a sobering statistic in it's own right, but even more revealing is the fact that UK business bears the lion's share of this burden, footing the bill to the tune of £21bn per year, 3/4 of the overall cost.
Further analysis of the report also uncovers the fact that £16bn of cost is attributable directly to intellectual property leaks and industrial espionage. This is something that the CEOs, CTOs and Chief Information Security Officers out there should be sitting up and taking notice of.
Having worked for many years in the high tech manufacturing and engineering sector myself, I can speak from personal experience when I say that there is still a huge amount of complacency when it comes to IP security. There is still very much an "It won't happen to us" or "Why would anyone be interested in us" attitude taken by many companies. The fact of the matter is, that today it is not just the exotic, high profile household names that are targets for cyber criminals, any successful business with a profile and presence in the news and on the web can be easily researched and targetted. One of the UKs most successful and inflential design and industy leaders, Sir James Dyson, recently even went on the record to express his concerns about industrial espionage.
This is my first posting in this blog, but in future entries I will be exploring the security issues that affect businesses and the way that they communicate their most vital and intangible assets, their Intellectual Property.
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