Corporations and governments are experiencing and reporting cybercrime at greater rates, according to a survey by PwC consulting. Respondents expressed doubts about the ability of law enforcement to investigate and prosecute economic crime. Many people have gone to see this page when it comes to cybersecurity law and litigation, but people tend to have more faith in the legal system than in the police who enforce it, it seems.

The PwC survey found 54 percent of U.S. companies experienced cyber crime in the past two years, far higher than the 32 percent global reported rate, according to Didier Lavion, a principal at PwC.

Compared to previous years, cyber crime is more rampant: In the 2014 survey, 44 percent of U.S. companies reported experiencing a cybercrime, compared to the 54 percent today. In addition, 50 percent now say they expect a cyber crime in the next two years.

This is a worrying trend for U.S. companies. What can they do to try and counteract it? Well, learning about penetration testing and vulnerability scans would help. According to Synack, the purpose of a vulnerability scan is to systematically identify gaps in security controls and find security loopholes in a network or software systems, whereas penetration tests are performed manually by humans who often have mixed skill sets and various expertise.

Respondents in the aforementioned survey were asked about whether they believe local law enforcement to be adequately resourced and trained to investigate and prosecute economic crime.

A resounding majority – 44% to 28% – expressed doubts on this point, while a further 28% could not answer.

These results could include the countrywide rate of economic crime, the extent to which law enforcement in the respective country publicises or downplays its expertise in certain areas like cybercrime, and the extent to which law enforcement is perceived to be above political interference.

Top 15 countries that believe their local law enforcement agencies are not adequately resourced to combat economic crime

Ari Schwartz, managing director of cybersecurity services at Venable, and a former member of the White House National Security Council, said one reason why cyber crime appears to be getting exponentially worse is that tools for detecting it have improved.

“That means a lot more people are finding that they’ve been hacked,” said Schwartz. “So it has raised a lot more concerns and it’s going to look worse before it looks better.”

Sources:

Global Economic Crime Survey 2016

Cyber Crime Wave on the Horizon, Survey Says

Study: Hackers Cost More Than $445 Billion Annually