Cybercrime soars.

• Position: Up Front: news, trends & analysis

Cybercrime is on the rise and, as a result, so are financial losses, according to a recent FBI report. But businesses aren't reporting breaches, the seventh annual "Computer Crime and Security Survey" found.

The survey consists of 503 security practitioners from corporations, government agencies, financial and medical institutions, and universities. It reports that 90 percent of respondents had detected a security breach within the past 12 months. However, only 34 percent reported the intrusions to law enforcement officials. (In 2001, 36 percent reported.)

Eighty-five percent of respondents said they had been hit with a computer virus. Other serious cyberattacks included Web site defacement and denial-of-service attacks.

But there is much more illegal and unauthorized activity going on in cyberspace than corporations may admit to their clients, business partners, stockholders, and law enforcement, says Patrice Rapalus, director of the Computer Security Institute, which prepared the survey with the FBI's Computer Intrusion Squad in San Francisco.

Many businesses keep quiet because they fear bad publicity and divulging proprietary information to investigators. Regardless of whether they're reported or not, cybercrimes cost business big dollars. The total amount reportedly lost to cybercrime in the past 12 months was $455.8 million, compared with $378 million in 2001 and $265 million in 2000. According to the study, financial losses from cybercrimes most commonly occurred through theft of property--$170 million--and financial fraud--$115 million.

Eighty percent of participating companies acknowledged some type of financial loss due to computer breaches. But 44 percent could not quantify their losses.

The 2002 survey also found that external threats were greater...