Administration officials and lawmakers – including the President himself, his NSA director and Senator Lieberman – have been heard quoting a figure that says cybercrime costs the world a trillion dollars a year, about 1.6 percent of global GDP.
The only trouble is…it’s a made-up figure, extrapolated by industry giant McAfee from the work of three Purdue researchers who have strongly distanced themselves from the estimate and then used by industry pork-grabbers and DC budget warriors for their own selfish agendas. Pro Publica has the details on the hyped figure that is too good to kill.
Lately, anything Joe Lieberman puts out scares the heck out of me. Thank God he is retiring.
…that over the years and been present at the creation of a few more (I actually have the envelopes and napkins for one or two of them). Little bastards take on a life of their own and one sees them for years – sometimes decades – afterwards. That said, they have a use – you know that anyone who cites them isn’t doing their due diligence, following sources to root and reading the methodology section, which makes it easier to tell who to watch out for.
“The most interesting part of any report is the footnotes.” ~ former colleague [previously of Research and Analysis Wing]