Tony Neate secured for ict forum wales

As British business continues to embrace computers and the Internet, so does the opportunity for people to commit crime using the technology.

According to a 2004 NOP report commissioned by the NHTCU a staggering 83 per cent said that they had experienced some form of hi-tech crime during that period, with 90 per cent suffering from unauthorised access to, or penetration of, their company systems, while 89 per cent suffered theft of information or data. 97 per cent of respondents said they had experienced virus attacks, which had cost them £70,792,102, while financial fraud had cost nine per cent of them £68,165,920. source www.nhtcu.org

Setting Business Free from Crime, a 2004 report from the British Chambers of Commerce also states that 84% of businesses claim to have suffered from at least one of computer related incident or e-crime within the last 12 months, the majority of which have received spam e-mail. Just over half (52%) claim to have suffered from computer virus infection, 10% have had a computer stolen, 6% have been victims of credit card fraud and a further 6% have been affected by hacking. http://www.chamberonline.co.uk/policy/issues/businesscrime/crimereport.pdf

Of course attacks are not always from outside of your business, one of the biggest risks is often from within your own company. Employees continue to download ‘interesting’ things from the Internet and open unsolicited emails, without realizing the impact this could have on the organisation. It’s not enough to have antivirus, antispam and a firewall, properly adhered to procedures need to be put into place, which form the core of a company’s online strategy.

Comments Tony “It is about people - of course technology helps, but it's about putting the processes and procedures in place to support what you are doing, and I can't stress that enough. We regularly see systems being compromised often because of poor basic education of the user. The use of social engineering by criminals on customers, clients, contractors, and members of staff is now a regular occurrence . So, at the end of the day, it is a matter of the process over the technology. If you need to incorporate technology into your business, which in most cases is now an imperative, processes, policies, and procedures must be put in place and education and training of staff need to be kept current.”

He goes on “But we really need to educate rather than scaremonger, and one way to do that is through conferences like this and information like the SME leaflet we have recently launched.”

He further adds “The law exists to help you, so it is also important for businesses to report any e-crime. By working together we have a greater opportunity to reduce the risk to businesses.”

Beti Williams, Director ITWales and founder of ict forum wales, comments “I agree with Tony’s comments about educating the users, we know that e-crime is a major problem, but unless we all take responsibility for our actions, the problems will continue. I urge any small business using the Internet to come along on the 17th and experience Tony Neate’s practical advice.”

ict forum wales, which runs from 14 – 25 November 2005, was devised by the team at ITWales with partners from both public and private sectors and is described as a festival of events for business, community and education celebrating innovation in Information Communication Technology.

Tony Neate will be giving the attendees of ict forum wales some hard hitting facts about e-crime and offering practical ways that they can start to put the processes and systems in place to reduce their vulnerability.

The unique 2 week pan Wales event will focus on future technology and how it will shape our lives.

Presentations and workshops aimed at SMEs will cover topics from connectivity to e-commerce, sales and marketing over the web, e-security and the latest mobile technology.

Specialist events for logistics and manufacturing organisations add to the varied programme.

The community and education sectors will be treated to events such as Teen Works 2005, a conference which concentrates on the young and internet security and the ever popular Technocamps for schools is back, designed to encourage young people to consider the challenge of a career in the computing sciences.

The ict forum wales programme of events will draw to a close with a business challenge day at Margam Park organised by Neath Port Talbot College, and ITWales. This unique team development event offers participants the opportunity to meet the challenges of 21st Century business management using the latest technologies.

Established in 2000 as ICT Forum, ict forum wales is one of many events for business and the community organised by ITWales, an innovative ICT initiative based in the Department of Computer of Science at the University of Wales, Swansea, and part funded by the European Social Fund. For further information, please visit www.ictforumwales.com

- ends -

For further information and interviews please contact Sali Earls or Jacqui Malpass, ict forum wales press office, tel: 01792 513382, or email: info@itwales.com.


NOTES FOR EDITORS:

About Tony Neate

Tony Neate is a Detective Sergeant with the South Wales Police now seconded to the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit based in London. He has 29 years service, of which 26 have been as a Detective in the Cardiff area. In 1989 Tony moved to the Fraud Squad where he dealt with all aspects of commercial fraud. He was also responsible for all aspects of computer crime investigations within the South Wales Police area, including the recovery of computer-based evidence.

http://www.nhtcu.org