International Law

Be afraid, be very afraid

I was surprised to read that online crime (and associated paranoia) in Canada is so high, especially because these findings would be similar in most western countries:

Canadians are more likely to be victims of crime on the Internet than they are on the streets, suggests a new survey commissioned by the Canadian Association of Police Boards.

Cyber crime - things such as identity theft, computer viruses and online harassment - is very close to surpassing illicit drugs as the top crime category in North America.

The survey, completed last January by Deloitte LLP, found that nearly half of the 567 respondents had been victims of cyber crime, and 70 per cent said they did not report the crime.

Almost everyone surveyed - 95 per cent - thought they were being targeted by cyber criminals.

"If that doesn't scare you, I don't know what will scare you," said Calgary police Chief Rick Hanson during a news conference Wednesday.

"It's huge and it's getting worse," said Ian Wilms, chair of the Canadian Association of Police Boards. "You lock your door at night time, but people don't, when online, just take the 30 seconds to update the security patches on their computer."

Read more here (from canada.com).

Full post as published by Freedom to Differ on May 23, 2008 (boomark / email).