Cyber war is being won by ‘crook stars’

Criminal gangs are winning the war in cyberspace as they can pay talented youngsters enough money to “party like rock stars”, according to one of the sector’s leading experts.

Art Gilliland, Hewlett Packard’s senior vice president for enterprise security products, told The Independent that cyber-crime has become more efficient as it is an “ecosystem” driven by market forces. Mr Gilliand said the Cabinet Office’s allegedly “scaremongering” statistic that cyber-crime costs the UK economy up to £27bn-a-year, could be understating the problem.

“My gut instinct is that what we are seeing is only the tip of the iceberg,” he argued.

He pointed out that many companies are frightened to admit they have been hacked for fear of losing customers.

Mr Gilliland warned that legitimate industry and technology groups like his that try to identify and prevent cyber-crime cannot compete with gangs over salaries. He said: “The good guys might earn £43,000 a year, but in cyber-crime they could make £743,000 at 22 years old, and go and party like rock stars.”