Researchers and law enforcement communities have yet to fully understand cybercrime's scope and implications, even though it is a growing issue. As a result of the perception that the police were ill-equipped to deal with these types of crimes, according to reports issued by the UK government, victims of cybercrime are unlikely to report the crimes immediately. These reports also identify a lack of cybercrime knowledge among police officers according to the reports.
In recent days, there have been numerous reports of people falling victim to online fraudsters despite being cautious about doing so. Marc Deruelle almost became one of them due to his actions. He was eager to visit Liverpool this May for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. He didn't immediately suspect that someone contacting him via WhatsApp was the receptionist at the accommodation he'd booked online. However, a few days later, he received a call from someone claiming to be the receptionist so he decided to contact them.
It was good that Deruelle's bank noticed something was going on. It refused to permit £800 to be transferred to Uganda at the last moment. The situation has not been as fortunate for other victims.
As late as 2022, a woman from North Wales forwarded almost £2,000 over Whatsapp to a scammer pretending to be her daughter and pretending to be based out of Nevada. The mother of two from North Lanarkshire, Scotland, told STV News how she sold her home to repay the loans she had invested in a bogus cryptocurrency investment scheme advertised on Facebook. Jennifer said she had to sell the house to pay. To invest in the bogus scheme, scammers coerced her into taking out further loans - and ultimately she owed £150,000 for the scam.
Earlier this year, the NCA released the Cyber Crime Assessment 2016. This highlights the need for more partnerships between law enforcement and the private sector to fight cybercrime. Even though cybercrime accounts for only a small proportion of all reported crimes in the U.K., the National Crime Agency has found that cybercrime has overtaken all other types of crime, accounting for 36 percent of all reported crimes, and 17 percent of crimes committed with computers.
There is no denying the fact that cybercrime reports have been growing in the U.K. One explanation for this may be that the British are becoming more skilled at detecting this kind of crime than they used to be. According to the report, there is a conclusion that there is increasing evidence of cybercrime occurring in the U.K., as it was briefly covered in the most recent Crime Survey for England and Wales conducted by the U.K. Office of National Statistics last year.
As of 2022, fraud will account for more than 40% of all crimes in England and Wales, making it the most common crime committed in the country.
Moore believes that, when the government launched Action Fraud in 2009, the government had the right intentions. However, the government did not realize how fast fraud would grow, Moore explains. As a result, Moore and Hamilton believe that law enforcement may have lacked funds and expertise. This has caused law enforcement officers to struggle to keep up with cybercrime's rapidly evolving pace, an issue that has left them struggling to keep up. As a result, it has been challenging for public agencies, particularly rural police departments, for a long time to recruit and retain cybersecurity professionals. There is not much money to be made by the police and the local government. As an IT professional, why on earth would you stay in the police force when you can join the private sector if you’re in cybersecurity?
Despite the growing scale and complexity of cybercrime as well as the intensifying attacks, the report concludes that "so far, the visible financial losses and damage do not have the potential to significantly impact the value of a company's equity over the long run." Cyber attacks on businesses in the UK have not been as damaging and as publicly visible as the ones that were carried out on the Target retail chain in the United States.
A large, multinational European company would probably be hard-pressed to conceal a breach of the same magnitude as the breach at Target in 2013 if it was similar to that breach. Generally speaking, European nations have not been required to comply with the same kind of data breach disclosure laws on the books in nearly every state in the United States. U.S. companies are forced to publicly acknowledge data breaches each week by laws in effect in nearly every U.S. state.
As the new General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union comes into force, companies that conduct business in Europe or with European customers will be required to provide written notification if, as a result of a breach of security, personal data was accidentally or unlawfully destroyed, lost, altered, or unauthorizedly disclosed, or access was unauthorized.
As it stands, there may still be some time before British businesses start coming forward about data breaches, especially since the GDPR requirements won't fully come into effect until 2021. Although the GDPR requirements will not take full effect until April 2018, the implementation is expected to take place sooner rather than later.
