Cybercrime is a
growing global problem that no company or country can tackle alone. At
any given time, an estimated 150 000 viruses and other types of
malicious code are circulating across the internet, infecting more than a
million people every day. Anti-virus software developer McAfee counts
75 million unique pieces of malicious malware code on its databases,
with botnets spewing out spam that account for a third of all the emails
sent every day. Bots are one of the most sophisticated and popular
types of cybercrime today. They allow hackers to take control of many
computers at a time, and turn them into "zombie" computers, which
operate as part of a powerful "botnet" to spread viruses, generate spam,
and commit other types of online crime and fraud.
The worldwide cost of cybercrime is estimated at over €750 billion
annually in wasted time, lost business opportunities and the expense of
fixing problems.
In addition to developing wider cybersecurity strategies for Europe, the European Commission takes concrete actions to tackle cyber security risks (see MEMO/11/842 and MEMO/10/597),
and pools resources with national governments, industry, universities
and NGOs, to develop innovative technologies to improve cybersecurity.
For the period
2007-2013, the European Commission has spent about €350 million in cyber
security research; from 2013 to 2020, €400 million is earmarked to
support key enabling & industrial
technologies such as cyber security, privacy and trust technologies, and
an additional €450 million is earmarked for 'Secure Societies' research
which includes aspects of cybersecurity.
The following EU-funded projects
address the big issues facing cybersecurity: cost, speed and long-term
security; helping to keep computer users one step ahead of the hackers,
Trojans (type of malware that masquerade as a legitimate file or helpful program but whose real purpose is, for example, to grant a hacker unauthorised access to a computer) and viruses plaguing the online world today.