McAfee urges governments to stay focused on cybercrime

In its annual crime report released Tuesday, McAfee warned governments currently tackling the credit crunch that growing cybercriminal activity will negatively impact consumer confidence.

According to McAfee’s annual Virtual Criminology Report, the economic downturn is driving more people to the web to seek the best deals, jobs and to manage their finances - and cybercriminals are cashing in on the trend.

“While governments and law enforcement bodies’ attention is diverted by the current economic crisis, the door is left open for cybercriminals to continue to target bank balances worldwide and to potentially damage the consumer trust needed to aid rapid recovery,” said Dave DeWalt, CEO and president for McAfee.

The security vendor urged governments not lose sight of security threats and warned there has never been more need to focus on internet security as the opportunities for cybercriminals to cash in have never been greater.

The weak job market could push people towards illegal online activity as there are sites that offer people money simply to add a few lines of code to their web pages.

Furthermore, Russia and China have become safe havens for cybercriminals; Brazil has become one of the fastest growing ‘scapegoat’ countries for cybercrime and there is an ongoing shortage of cross border police resources to fight it.

“Governments need to commit to funding the resources needed to combat cybercrime; bureaucratic bodies need to be rationalised and harmonised and police forces need to be coordinated across boundaries,” said McAfee.