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Cybercrime affecting almost one-third of global organizations: PwC


February 29, 2016   by Canadian Underwriter


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More than one in three global organizations (36%) experienced economic crime in the last two years, with cybercrime affecting almost a third (32%), the highest ever level in PwC’s biennial Global Economic Crime Survey.

The PwC Global Economic Crime Survey 2016 involved interviews of over 6,000 participants in 115 countries, including those in North America (8%), Western Europe (22%), Middle East (5%), Eastern Europe (17%), Latin America (18%), Africa (10%) and Asia Pacific (20%). The 6,337 respondents were from all sectors – financial services (24%), consumer (14%), technology (7%), industrial (35%) and professional services (6%).

The financial services sector reported the highest level of cybercrime at 52%, up 7% from 2014

The survey found that the financial services sector reported the highest level of cybercrime (52%, up 7% from 2014), PwC said in a media release. The sectors most affected were communications (44%; up 14% from 2014); chemicals (34%, up 12% on 2014); pharmaceuticals (31%, up 21% from 2014); insurance (29%: up 13% from 2014) and government and state owned entities (29%; up 17% on 2014).

Cybercrime incidents reported were up 8% to 32% and over half (53%) of respondents perceived an increased risk of cyber threats over the last 24 months, PwC said in the release. A total of 34% believe it is likely that their organizations will experience cybercrime in the next 24 months. Despite big financial losses reported linked to cybercrime, respondents reported the greatest impact to their organizations coming from damage to their reputation and legal, investment and enforcement costs. Also, even though there was a marginal decline in economic crime reported overall (from 37% in 2014 to 36% this year), the financial cost of each fraud is on the rise – 14% of respondents experienced losses of more than US$1 million in the last two years.

The survey found that only 37% of respondents reported having a fully operational incident response plan in place. Almost a third have no plan at all, with 14% of respondents not even intending to implement one. As well, 45% of respondents do not believe that their local law enforcement agencies have the required skills and resources to combat cybercrime, the release said. [click image below to enlarge]

The most common economic crimes were asset misappropriation (64%), cybercrime (32%), and bribery and corruption (24%)

Other survey highlights include:

• The most common economic crimes were asset misappropriation (64%), cybercrime (32%), and bribery and corruption (24%);

• Nearly half of the serious incidents of economic crimes were carried out by perpetrators employed by the affected organization. Internal fraudsters are most likely to be male graduates, with three-five years of service, aged between 31 and 40 years old and serving a middle/senior management function;

• Seven out of ten organizations believe that opportunity is the main driver of economic crime committed by internal parties; and

• 20% of respondents believe their organizations are likely to experience the leading economic crimes – asset misappropriation, cybercrime or bribery and corruption – within 24 months. Within two years, six of the G20 (UK, USA, Italy, France, Canada and Australia) expect cybercrime to be the largest economic crime threat to their organization.

Andrew Gordon, global leader, forensic services, PwC, said in the release that the modest drop in some crime metrics “mask an increasingly complex economic crime environment driven by cyber threats and regulatory pressure, while the cost of the crimes are rising. Too few companies are adapting their risk assessments and control frameworks fast enough. Action on economic crime is not the responsibility of one person or team, it must be embedded within an organizations’ culture.”


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