Cyber crime rises by 89%

Nearly a quarter of firms have been hit by economic crime and, despite a huge emphasis on whistleblowing, not a single fraud has been reported by whistleblowers.

The PWC Economic Crime Survey published today found that cybercrime has risen rapidly in the last two years growing by 89%.

As the sophistication of attacks increased the cost to institutions rose as well. Among the firms that had been hit, 40% said that the cost of the crime was between €75,000 and €750,000. A further one-in-ten said the loss was more than €750,000 which is double that compared with 2011.

Advisory Leader with PwC Paul Tuite said that, on top of the cost, there was the time lost in investigation and the reputational damage to the firms.

"Economic crime persists despite ongoing efforts to tackle it. No organisation of any size anywhere in the world is immune to the impact of fraud and other crimes.

"Even worse than the direct impact of economic crime is its cost in terms of management time, its threat to a wide range of business systems and processes and its impact on corporate reputations and integrity of employees."

Despite 60% of Irish firms adopting a whistle-blowing mechanism, not a single economic crime has been detected through one of these mechanisms.

The rise of cybercrime also means companies may not be reporting economic crime as they don’t know it has happened. Advisory partner with PwC Ciaran Kelly said that some firms were looking to cover-up cybercrime incidents.

"Many people may not be reporting cybercrime simply because they don’t know it has happened, or because they want to keep it contained. They are concerned about what effect it has on their reputation. It’s also important to remember that it is not a technology problem, it’s a human problem, and the internal threat needs to be taken as seriously as the threat from outside an organisation."