Written evidence submitted by Intellect
(Malware 04)
I am writing to offer Intellect's formal submission
to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee Inquiry
into Malware and Cyber-crime.
Intellect is the UK trade association for the IT,
telecoms and electronics industries. Its members account for over
80% of these markets and include blue-chip multinationals as well
as early stage technology companies. Our diverse cyber security
portfolio reflects the fact that the technology industry has a
critical role to play in the drive to online security, including
providing agile solutions to cyber threats, supplying intelligence
on attacks on information systems and in protecting itself, as
part of the national infrastructure, from these attacks.
While a number of Intellect's member companies are
submitting full written evidence to this inquiry, we have chosen
to highlight below the issues most salient to the technology industry:
— Malware
is becoming an increasingly common means of attack for cyber criminals
and is often combined with sophisticated social engineering tactics.
— A shadow
economy in criminal IT services has emerged and is largely driven
by organised crime. Those targeted for attack range from individuals,
private companies, national infrastructure and nation states.
— Estimating
the cost of cyber-crime is problematic. Many private sector organisations
are unwilling to publicly announce either breaches of their IT
systems or their security spend for fear of reputational damage.
— Companies
within the technology industry must share information on threat
data in order to ensure comprehensive cyber security.
— There
is a conceptual flaw in organising response actions along an artificial
distinction of the public and the private that the perpetrators
of cyber-crime do not recognise.
Intellect is developing a number of projects to address
some of these issues, such as an information-sharing forum and
a cyber security best-practice guide for small businesses and
I would be very happy to formally brief the committee on these
activities.
Gordon Morrison
Intellect Defence and Security Director
5 September 2011
| 
