Gather around, computer crime investigators. I need your help. People working for us are abusing their access rights to the company's network system. We need to find all the leaks in network security. Also, viruses and spyware are popping up everywhere on computers attached to our local area network. We need to act fast or we stand to lose millions of dollars!

"According to the 2003 computer crime and security survey conducted by the FBI and CSI, insider abuse of network access was the second most pressing security concern cited by companies - in fact, it was cited by 80% of all companies that responded to the survey. By 2002, disgruntled (resentful and angry) employees had overtaken independent hackers as the most likely source of attack for companies. "* If you look at the 2004 CSI/FBI Computer and Crime Security Survey, you see that reports of attacks on computer systems have been slowly decreasing over the last few years. However, you will see three new crime categories added to the 2004 survey: abuse of wireless networks, Web site defacement (spoiling the appearance of the site), and misuse of public Web applications.

Hmmm... I wonder if computer crimes are decreasing or if some companies stopped reporting the crimes due to bad publicity. What do you think?

First, let's gather more background information from the CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey.

*Source: Security: the threats that lie within organizations, Published On: 1st April 2004, Channel: Information Security, www.IT-Director.com, Fran Howarth, Bloor Research.

2004 CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey, Source: Computer Security Institute