How do you punish a cybercriminal? First you have to catch one. The past week yielded some good news on that front, notably the German arrest of four cyber-bootleggers believed to be responsible for selling millions of dollars worth of illegal video, computer games, music, and software. . . .
How do you punish a cybercriminal? First you have to catch one.

The past week yielded some good news on that front, notably the German arrest of four cyber-bootleggers believed to be responsible for selling millions of dollars worth of illegal video, computer games, music, and software. Earlier in the month, Scotland Yard nabbed the man suspected of having stolen Cisco's Internetwork Operating System code.

On the other hand, the German teen allegedly responsible for the Sasser and Netsky worms has been hired by a security firm seeking to tap his knowledge. Still, he is awaiting trial.

Five or six down--and how many to go? And what do you do with these Internet crooks once you've caught them? Those are the billion dollar questions, two of the many addressed at a recent cybercrime conference, organized by the Council of Europe. As the conference report pointed out, the sheer number of potential cybercriminals is staggering. If only .01 percent of Internet users undertook criminal activities, their number would exceed half a million.

Whether or not the number is that high, cybercriminals are exacting a rising toll on Internet users and businesses.

In Germany, for example, Internet-based crimes accounted for only 1.3 percent of recorded criminal acts, but raked in a whopping 57 percent of material damage resulting from crimes. Here, faced with the failure of the CAN-SPAM Act, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a report exploring the possibility of offering a bounty for help in identifying illegal spammers.

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