UK law lets hackers get away with it

Companies are failing to track down and prosecute hackers because they find it too expensive and difficult to investigate attacks.

Security experts claim that UK firms are prepared to write off losses of up to £50,000 because of the difficulty getting a conviction.

"Primarily it depends on whether the damage suffered is equal to or less than the value of an investigation," said Nigel Layton, chief executive of UK security consultant Quest.

"And in the UK, most companies do not think it is worth pursuing for less than £50,000, although if there is harm to the company's reputation they may choose to pursue it more vigorously."

According to Layton, there are simple things that users can do to help preserve evidence in case of a breach, but justifying the cost before an incident is difficult.

"Maintaining log files so they can be used for investigative purposes is useful but hard to justify before the act," he added.

Layton said the government's controversial National Hi-Tech Crime Unit has worked with his company on a couple of investigations involving his clients, though none have yet gone to court.

Quest has this week launched a service in the UK in conjunction with US-based Internet Crimes Group (ICG) to help companies tackle cyber-criminals.

Cameron Craig, ex-FBI white collar crime specialist and president of ICG, claims the high levels of redundancies across the hi-tech sector are likely to lead to an "explosion" of cyber-crime, as disgruntled ex-employees use knowledge of corporate networks for criminal activity.

The service combines bespoke software with what it calls "traditional sleuthing techniques", and ICG claims a 66 per cent success rate in the US.

Earlier this year a survey by KPMG of 1250 chief executives and chief information officers in large public and private companies found 83 per cent of those that suffered security attacks did not pursue legal action.

This was put down to weak legislation, a lack of evidence, and some cases being settled out of court.