2.5 million cyber crimes committed in UK in a year, says Office for National Statistics
...but figures don't paint whole picture, argue security experts
There were over 2.5 million reported incidents of cyber crime in the last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has predicted.
It comes as the body has issued statistics on hacking and other computer misuse in its Crime Survey for the first time.
According to ONS, the most regular form of cyber crime to fall under the Computer Misuse Act was attacks by malware. "The most common incident where the victim's computer or other internet enabled device was infected by a virus," the ONS said in its report.
The ONS report comes after Intel Security and McAfee Labs claimed that hackers are selling credit card details for as little as $5.
Hacking was also a commonly reported crime, with "incidents where the respondent's email or social media accounts had been hacked" also forming a significant chunk of the figures for cyber crime.
The figures on crime are drawn from two sources; police figures based on the reports of crime to the authorities and The Crime Survey of England and Wales, which is based on the number of people who claim to have been the victim of a crime.
2.5 million people represents almost 10 per cent of the population of England and Wales, but experts believe that this only represents a fraction of those who've been victims of cyber crime.
"While the figures released today may appear high, I am certain that cyber crime remains one of the most under reported areas in our crime statistics," said Louise Pordage, senior manager in KPMG's cyber security practice.
She argued that there's "little clarity around the impact of cyber crime against the UK economy" and the figures don't paint a full picture because "the statistics released today only consider crimes against the person rather than corporate crime".
However, Pordage welcomed figures on cyber crime being added to crime figures by the Office for National Statistics as an important step to reflecting the changing techniques of criminals.
"Our world is becoming digital and so is organised crime. The incorporation of these figures into the Crime Survey of England and Wales is a vital first step towards a more robust reporting regime for cyber crime, and an important recognition that such crimes can have every bit as much of an impact on our lives as more conventional crime".
The addition of cyber crime to the national crime figures means overall crime rates have increased for the first time in two decades.
James Murphy, associate director for defence and Security at techUK said the figures demonstrate "the true scale of cyber-crime and gives police chiefs a greater understanding of the problem they face".
Murphy also argued that the ONS statistics don't show the whole picture when it comes to cyber crime, due to the number of people and organisations which fail to report incidents.
"Given these crimes are often under-reported, it's likely the actual figures are even higher than those published today," he said.
"The only way we can successfully tackle the growing threat to people and businesses is for police, industry and victim support to work together to better protect and prevent against such crimes," Murphy added.
But Richard Olver, vice president EMEA at Tanium argued that businesses aren't doing enough to combat the threat of cyber crime.
"UK businesses are ill-prepared when it comes to cyber-security, with all too many organisations turning a blind eye to the ineffective security measures they have in place, exposing themselves and their customers to vulnerability," he said.
"Identity theft, conducted through "phishing" scams and electronic attacks, leads to a corporate network breach," he continued.
"These simple threats have existed for decades but because firms are neglecting to consider digital security as a board level issue, the numbers are continuing to rise," Olver concluded.