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London (pte033/08.04.2005/15:45) - The Internet has changed the way that organised crime works, according to a leading e-crime police officer. As the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk reports, Mick Deats of the UK National Hi-Tech Crime Unit said that online crime groups can be more loosely linked and harder to track. He added that online crime groups had become more noticeable professional over the last 18 months. According to Deats, deputy head of the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU), greater use of online shopping and banking is making the net a tempting target for organised crime groups.
"Where there's money there is organised crime," said Deats. Information about the success of some organised crime groups broken by police operations reveal that in one case, the criminals made a total of 6 million pounds from phishing attacks. Figures released by the NHTCU show how much cyber crime is costing the UK. In 2004, fighting viruses cost 747 million pounds, beating off net attacks 558 million pounds and online fraud 690 million pounds. According to Deats, there are an estimated 70 organised crime groups around the world concentrating on net crime. According to the NHTCU, big UK businesses lost more than 2.4 billion pounds to hi-tech crime.
Many companies that do a lot of trade online are also coming under attack from extortionists who threaten to knock a site offline unless they are paid a ransom. "The more reliant a business is on the Internet, the more vulnerable they are," said Deats. "And quite frankly, many people pay". Details about an operation against website attackers reveal that one gang made 1.3 million pounds in a 90-day period. Some of the organised crime groups starting to use the net had the same rigid, hierarchical structure seen in offline gangs. "In those situations, we know who to target and who is in charge," said Deats.
The Internet is increasingly making it possible for virtual groups to get together to commit crimes. According to Deats, these groups bring together people who are experts in particular fields. "These tend to be loose groups of specialists," he said. Some develop expertise in writing malicious code to steal confidential information or to mimic bank websites. Others recruit and control "bot nets", which are groups of hijacked home PCs that are used as spam and virus relays or to launch attacks on other sites. "There are people that sell of hire their "bot nets", said Deats, "They are a marketable commodity in themselves, they are specialised and there are a lot of people doing that."
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