Cyber crime costs UK $43.5 billion a year: study

Cyber crime costs the British economy some 27 billion pounds ($43.5 billion) a year and appears to be "endemic," according to the first official government estimate of the issue.

The study by Britain's Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance concluded digital crime is a growing, widespread problem, and attempts to address it have been hampered by a real lack of understanding and insight. Business is bearing the brunt of the costs at an estimated 21 billion pounds, with the pharmaceutical, biotech, IT, and chemical sectors the worst hit. However, government lost some 2.2 billion pounds and the cost to individual Britons amounted to 3.1 billion pounds.