The Business Exchange Bath & Somerset Issue 8: Summer 2018 | Page 23

TECHNOLOGY
WORRIED ABOUT CYBERCRIME?
The latest news from the South West Regional Cyber Crime Unit.
A recent figure from The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau indicated
that, in just the first quarter of 2017, the South West reported over
2,500 cyber dependent crimes.
This resulted in an estimated five and a
half million pounds worth of financial loss.
However, this was only what was reported -
the real figure is likely significantly higher.
For those who have not encountered us,
we are the South West Regional Cyber
Crime Unit, and we are responsible for
tackling cyber dependent crimes and their
impact upon businesses, groups, charities
and some key critical national infrastructure
organisations based in the South West.
Examples of such crimes include network
intrusion, ransomware and denial of service
attacks.
Until recently, cybercrime was not an area
which garnered a huge amount of public
attention – that attitude is now rapidly
changing, and organisations are realising
that they can no longer afford to be in the
dark regarding their own cyber security
practices. The government’s evaluation of
cybercrime as a Tier 1 threat also echoes an
increasing worry around how this emerging
crime type is affectin