CYBERSPACE – According to a survey conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), computer-related crimes cost US businesses over $67 billion in 2005. The survey covered a wide range of crimes, and showed that worms and viruses continue to be the most common form of attack reported.Results of the 2005 FBI Computer Crime Survey, which polled over 2000 private and public organizations, showed that close to 90% of respondents had experienced a computer security issue in 2005, with 83% detecting viruses, 79% encountering spyware, and 20% saying their networks had been scanned, or had data sabotaged.

The FBI arrived at the sum of $67.2 billion by extrapolating from data collected in the survey. The total losses for the companies surveyed were estimated to be $32 million, which worked out to an average of $24000 per company.

Taking into account that survey results can be skewed, when extrapolating the survey results, the FBI reduced the estimated number of organizations affected from 64% to a more conservative 20%, according to CNET News.

Assuming that 20% of US organizations overall experienced cyber crime incidents, the total number “would be 2.8 million US organizations experiencing at least one computer security incident,” according to the FBI survey. “With each of these 2.8 million organizations incurring a $24,000 average loss, this would total $67.2 billion per year.”

Previous surveys have attempted to arrive at a dollar amount for cyber security damages, but the FBI believes this new estimate is the most accurate to date, because of the large number of respondents, according to Bruce Verduyn, the special agent in charge of the “Cyber Squad” which administered the survey.

“The data set is three or four times larger than in past surveys,” Verduyn said. “It is obviously a staggering number, but that is the reality of what we see.”