Cybercrime Yields More Cash Than Drugs

Reuters on November 28, 2005

For the first time, cybercrime has overtaken international drug trafficking in terms of total revenues generated. Valerie McNiven, a U.S. Treasury Department expert on cybercrime, says that last year was the first time cybercriminals generated more cash that drug dealers and that the drug business took in $105 billion. Law enforcement agencies have a problem catching cybercriminals because they move too quickly to be caught. Phishing Web sites, for example, typically stay online for only 48 hours. McNiven blames industry for not being willing to pay for secure systems. She says that banking systems in developing countries have a particular problem because they are being compromised from their very inception.