US to survey businesses on cybercrime

WASHINGTON: The U.S. government said on Thursday it will launch its first national survey to estimate how much cybercrime is costing American businesses.

The Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security will try to measure the number of cyber attacks, frauds and thefts of information and the resulting losses during 2005, officials said in a statement.

The survey, to be completed by year-end, will collect information about the nature and extent of computer security violations, the monetary costs, types of offenders and computer security measures now used by companies.

"The survey data will enable the federal government to assess what needs to be done to reduce computer security vulnerabilities and will provide the first official national statistics on the extent and consequences of cybercrime among the country's 5.3 million firms with salaried employees," the Justice Department said.

A smaller pilot survey by the government found nearly three-fourths of business respondents said they were victimized by cybercrime in 2001. The respondents said the most common form of attack was computer viruses, followed by denial of service, the government said.