Scottish firms lose more than £20m to online crime

Businesses in Scotland lost more than £20 million to online crime in the year to March, new data has found.

Firms were urged to review their own skills and knowledge to tackle online crime. Picture: Contributed

The research was carried out by internet security awareness initiative Get Safe Online and the UK’s national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre, Action Fraud.

Specific offences include ­corporate employee fraud, where employees or ­ex-employees obtain property or compensation illegally, with £762,271 lost by businesses north of the ­Border during the year.

Tony Neate, chief executive of Get Safe Online, said the data highlighted “the enormous, and quite frankly daunting impact online crime can have on a business”.

He added: “To ­tackle this issue head-on, ­businesses need to review their own skills and knowledge, ­determine if they need to seek help from outside, and then create ­measures to ­prevent, detect and respond to potential ­security threats.”