[ NNSquad ] The Cybercrime Wave That Wasn't

[Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>]

The Cybercrime Wave That Wasn't

http://j.mp/HVb4Wi  (New York Times)

   "The cybercrime surveys we have examined exhibit exactly this pattern
    of enormous, unverified outliers dominating the data. In some, 90
    percent of the estimate appears to come from the answers of one or two
    individuals. In a 2006 survey of identity theft by the Federal Trade
    Commission, two respondents gave answers that would have added $37
    billion to the estimate, dwarfing that of all other respondents
    combined.  This is not simply a failure to achieve perfection or a
    matter of a few percentage points; it is the rule, rather than the
    exception.  Among dozens of surveys, from security vendors, industry
    analysts and government agencies, we have not found one that appears
    free of this upward bias. As a result, we have very little idea of the
    size of cybercrime losses."

 - - -

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren 
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org 
Founder:
 - Data Wisdom Explorers League: http://www.dwel.org
 - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org 
 - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
 - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com 
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren / Twitter: http://vortex.com/t-lauren 
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
_______________________________________________
nnsquad mailing list
http://lists.nnsquad.org/mailman/listinfo/nnsquad