Pitchrate | New cybercrime book aims to save UK businesses £21bn a year

Email:
Password:
or log in with your favorite social network:

NOTE: If you don't have a profile and want to sign up with your social network, please click the appropriate icon in the sign up box!

Charles Conway

Charles Conway is the editor of scam awareness website Scam Detectives (www.scam-detectives.co.uk)and the author of "Scammers, Spammers & Social Engineers: A Scam Detectives guide to keeping your business safe online" His areas of expertise include: 419/Advance fee fraud Dating scams Competi...

Category of Expertise:

Contents is empty

Company:

Scam Detectives

User Type:

Expert

Published:

03/15/2011 09:42am
New cybercrime book aims to save UK businesses £21bn a year

Cybercrime costs UK businesses "at least £21bn a year", according to Government figures announced this
month.

Meeting with some of the UK's biggest Companies, including HSBC, Tesco, Barclays and British Airways, Security
Minister Baroness Neville-Jones said that this figure could be "much higher" because many firms are reluctant to
admit having fallen victim to electronic crime for fear of damaging their reputation. This both hampers efforts
to target cybercrime at source and to arrive at a definitive cost to the economy.

To help business owners to reduce the impact of electronic crime, Charles Conway, editor of popular scam
awareness website Scam Detectives (www.scam-detectives.co.uk) has released a new book exposing the
methods used by cybercriminals to steal £21bn from UK businesses every year.

Cutting through the jargon to help business owners understand the threats

"Scammers, Spammers & Social Engineers: A Scam Detectives guide to keeping your business safe online" cuts
through all the technical jargon and "geek-speak" to explain,in plain English, the threats that Companies face
from scammers and hackers attempting to catch them unawares, the dangers presented by the social networking
revolution, how the Internet has allowed scams that have their origins in the 19th Century to make a
sophisticated come-back and even how naive members of staff could accidentally expose a firm to corporate
Identity Theft.

The old rules no longer apply

"This is not just another book about online scams" says Charles. "This Government report clearly shows that
business owners need help to recognise some of the threats to their Company's financial security that simply
didn't exist until recently, including viruses and malware distributed on social networking websites such as
Facebook and Twitter that could allow hackers to steal Company data or plunder bank accounts, hacked email
accounts that can be used to issue fake purchase orders that could cost you thousands of pounds, and the
opportunities to make a quick profit that could lead to executives landing themselves in trouble with the
authorities."

"Scammers, hackers and cyber-thieves have moved with the times" he continues. "Criminals are using advances in
technology to work smarter and businesses are increasingly becoming the target of their schemes. The crooks
know many of the red flags' that Internet users have traditionally looked for and are finding ways around them,
so the old rules no longer apply."

Practical help and advice

As well as exploring the methods used by cybercriminals, the author offers practical help and advice for business
owners concerned about protecting their business interests.

"Education and training are the keys to Internet security. Whilst a hardware solution such as a strong firewall can
help to protect your systems from outside intruders, it can't stop you or your stafffrom falling for a
sophisticated social engineering scam and unwittingly parting with information that should be kept private. The
chapter on protecting your business includes guidance on implementing a strong IT acceptable use policy,
restricting the use of removable media devices such as USB flash drives that could put client data at risk or
introduce viruses to your systems, advice on trainingstaff in the correct use of email to avoid unwittingly sharing
confidential information and a method of generating passwords that are both secure and easy for the user to
remember."

Scammers, Spammers and Social Engineers is available to purchase direct from the Scam Detectives website at
www.scam-detectives.co.uk priced at £9.99 plus P&P

Press Enquiries

The author is available for interview and can be contacted by email at charles@scam-detectives.co.uk. Review copies
of the book are also available in pdf format upon request.

Keywords

scam, business to business, ripoffs, online threats
Please note: Expert must be credited by name when an article is reprinted in part or in full.

Share with your colleagues, friends or anyone

comments on this article

Powered by: www.creativform.com