WASHINGTON – According a recently released FBI survey on cyber crime, almost 90 percent of public and private institutions experienced computer security breaches in 2005, but most were not reported to the police.
Only 9 percent of these institutions reported the incidents to law enforcement. Ninety-one percent of those that reported their cyber crimes were satisfied with the police’s response.
Those who didn’t alert police believed there was little authorities could do or didn’t believe their incidents were crimes. Small businesses were most likely not to report problems to authorities.
The 2005 FBI Cyber Crime Survey polled 2000 institutions in four states. The report estimates that computer security breaches cost companies $67 billion last year. Viruses and worms cost $12 billion.
Other report highlights include:
- 83 percent of organizations experienced virus attacks
- 79 percent had spyware problems
- Attacks originated from 36 countries, including the United States (36 percent) and China (24 percent)
