Organised criminals are starting to recruit IT students, according to a new report from security vendor McAfee. The revelation came as experts called for a greater focus on ethics in technology courses.

The McAfee Virtual Criminology Report into organised crime and the internet was produced with co-operation from the FBI and European high-tech crime units, including the Metropolitan Police’s Computer Crime Unit. It reports that 68 out of 77 computer science students at one US university admitted to committing an illegal computer act, such as using another person’s account or writing a virus.

“US teenagers as young as 14 are being groomed for a life of cyber crime, but this situation is not exclusive to the US,” said McAfee security analyst Greg Day. “UK students are just as much of a target, as blackmail, money motivation and new opportunities cross international borders. It’s easy for [these] people not to realise the social impact of what they’re doing.”

Raimund Genes, Trend Micro’s anti-malware chief technology officer, argued that students should be given ethics classes that explain the potential consequences of becoming involved in computer crime. “This is not a technology problem, it’s a human problem,” he added.

Andy Kellet of analyst Butler Group argued that more education would do little to prevent some graduates from being lured into organised crime. “But if you dig down deep I think the [financial] promise probably exceeds the reality. Only a tiny community actually benefits from [crime], for example, and the rest struggle,” he added.

Aside from concerns about IT graduates being drafted in as hackers, security vendors MessageLabs and Postini last week warned that a rise in instant messaging-based threats and further hikes in spam levels – especially image-based variants – look set to dominate the IT security landscape next year.

“Firms not keeping up to date with their protection and those trying to do it on their own risk losing email as a viable business tool,” said Postini’s Dan Druker. “It will become a CEO-level issue again because it’s beginning to impact the productivity of businesses.”