After the Home Affairs Committee declared today that Britain is still complacent about cybercrime despite regular attacks from hackers, IT security professionals have spoken out in agreement.
Adrian Culley, Global Technical Consultant, Damballa said: "Today’s report suggests we need a new approach to tackling the threats of e-crime. I’d argue that this means re-examining how we educate citizens to function safely, and with vigilance, in the Digital Society.
"The fact is that our society – and a large part of the economy – is now digital. Ultimately, there is no e-crime, there is just crime," he added.
Cybercrime is an issue that urgently needs to be addressed as it costs Britain an estimated £18bn to £27bn every year.
The committee declared that the UK needs to establish an espionage response centre, which would allow companies, media and institutions to report hacking attempts so that action can be taken.
Committee head Keith Vaz said: "The threat of cyber attack to the UK is so serious it is marked as a higher threat than nuclear attack."
Ruby Khaira, regional manager for UK, Northern Europe and India at FireMon said: "Today’s security landscape is fast changing and organisations are failing to address the challenges that are being posed by sophisticated criminal enterprises.
"As organisations and their networks become ever more complex, it is enabling attacks to be launched from across the globe which are becoming more targeted and specific in nature," he said.
The Home Affairs Committee report outlines the far reaching impact of cybercrime in the UK and outlined preventative measures. But Khaira says that this is not enough: "The report makes no mention of the fact that only by understanding the real time security posture, can organisations begin to analyse and identify security gaps and prioritise remediation against attack."
