If an average loss of £236 per victim of cybercrime is calculated in relation to the population it could mean that £1.5 billion was lost to criminal networks last year, says Tony Neate, Chief Executive Officer of Get Safe Online. He’s a speaker at a cyber crime conference being staged by Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police with the University of Worcester.
Speaking ahead of the event on Monday, September 8, Mr Neate said: “We are living in a time of technological transformation and as more and more traditional services move online we will see an increase in attacks from cyber criminals. It is vital for people and organisations to realise the dangers they face online and the damaging effect cyber crime can have on their lives and business operations. Conferences like this are a great way to help educate people and organisations on how to better protect themselves because cyber crime is a very real threat.”
A cyber attack can have a number of effects including financial loss, disruption on daily lives and business operations, Mr Neate added. “According to recent research carried out by PwC and the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) data breaches are costing small organisations between £60,000 and £115,000 and large organisations between £600,000 and £1.15m. Now those are some staggering numbers and for those not covered by insurance cyber attacks could mean the end of the road. This can have knock-on effects such as loss of jobs etc.
“For consumers it could be worse, as unlike businesses, they are not protected by insurance and for families that are struggling financially it can be devastating. It could also have a real emotional effect on people and put them off using online services,“he said.
Figures in cyber crime will come together for the day-long conference at University of Worcester Arena, which is sponsored by West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner Bill Longmore and will be opened by West Mercia Police’s Chief Constable David Shaw.
The event will feature talks from educators, law enforcement and businesses and the audience will test and improve their knowledge by taking part in a quiz and workshop.
There will also be a “Question Time”-style debate involving a panel. The conference is designed to increase awareness of this growing type of crime, to help protect people from the harm it can cause, to develop partnership working to tackle it and to help empower communities to protect themselves. It comes soon after a similar event hosted by Coventry University with the Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police alliance in May.
The audience will be made up of invited guests including educators, businesses, the police and public bodies.
“I think it’s brilliant that Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police are staging this event at the University of Worcester. It shows great commitment and collaboration from public organisations to really tackle the issue of cybercrime. The fact that the audience will made up of educators, law enforcement, businesses and members of the general public reflects that this issue effects everyone and shows how committed the wider community is to really do something about it,” said Mr Neate.
