Unemployment Can Mean More Cyber Crimes

Unemployment itself is a problem, and when the problem in turns produces other set of problems, particularly crimes, then we have sleepless nights.

ZDNet has published a disturbing report that some of the workers who lost their job due to bad economy or become subject to retrenchment may resort to crime either to ‘solve’ their unemployment problem or just an act of revenge.

Skilled IT and finance workers with good knowledge of technology and computer system may use their skills to infiltrate the company’s database, access sensitive data, steal key information and sell it to unscrupulous third parties for money.

Some of them also have the capability to mount phishing attacks to website in order to capture customers’ valuable information such as username, password and credit card details and use it in their online shopping spree. When the credit card holder realized he is being cheated, it’s all too late.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the prominent global accounting and audit firm, predicts that as the unemployment rate continues to rise in almost every country, cyber crime and frauds will be dangerously on the rise in the year 2009. Similar sentiment is shared by Finjan, a California based security firm with specialty in detection of internet and web threats. The company found out, in the recent research, that Asia and Eastern Europe are particularly vulnerable for cyber crime attacks.

As more and more professionals are going jobless and soon finding themselves desperate for money, many of them will be eventually left with a pondering thought, “Should I give it a go?”

Other posts you may want to read:

1. More Americans late on credit card payments
2. Low Confidence In US Job Market
3. Unemployment to Stay at 4% – Nor Yakcob
4. US Unemployment Rate Hits 26 Year High
5. UK Unemployment Hits 14-Year High
6. UK Employment is Not Looking Good Too
7. Unemployment Rate May Reach 4.5%
8. Japan Unemployment Rises as Economy Worsens

Author's bio: Zul is the founder and principal contributor for the SKOR Career blog. He is the author of two books, The Malaysian Job Seeker's Dilemma and Buat Duit Tanpa Kerja Makan Gaji (How to Make Money Without a Job), available in major book stores nationwide. You can reach him at zulkiflimusa[at]gmail.com.