1997 computer crime and security survey

Describes how the Office of Strategic Crime Assessments (OSCA) and the Victoria Police Computer Crime Investigation Squad conducted the 1997 Computer Crime and Security Survey in order to establish some reliable base‐line information regarding the extent of computer‐related crime in Australia today. A representative sample of over 300 Australian companies was surveyed. Of the respondents, 37 per cent had experienced some form of intrusion or other unauthorised use of computer systems in the last 12 months. Nearly 90 per cent of those that had experienced computer‐related incidents had been subjected to attacks from sources internal to their own organisation. Over 60 per cent were subjected to intrusions from external sources (meaning that a significant number of companies had been subjected to attacks from both employees and outsiders). States that the results of this study empirically support many elements of the anecdotal evidence and highlights a number of issues for Australian law enforcement.