Success (profits) Nothing breeds success like success. Just as eBay created a new generation of junk sale entrepreneurs, cyber crime is sucking in more and more players as word spreads about how easy it is to make money online. The total number of cyber criminals probably is under half a million. But that number is certainly growing at a rate that would make even eBay jealous.

If you look at these drivers and the magnitude of their impact on the growth of cyber crime you really have to search to find any counter balancing inhibitors. I can only identify two:

1. Better security. I believe it is possible to avoid becoming a victim of cyber crime. For the individual it is easy: Switch to a Mac. Use Firefox. Subscribe to a credit monitoring service.

For an organization it is a little more complicated but still, armed with an appreciation for the threats, the typical company, school, or government agency can adequately protect themselves. Unfortunately, just as putting bars on your windows and using motion sensor floodlights protects your house but does nothing to reduce your neighborhood crime rate, individual action does nothing to impact the overall cyber criminal economy.

2. International cooperation. One of the huge advantages that cyber criminals have is that they escape prosecution thanks to lack of jurisdiction on the part of any law enforcement group. The very few cases of US, Russian, and British forces working together, while successful, have not even dented the cyber crime rate. As that crime rate rises the pressure to work together will finally grow to the point where inter-government law enforcement will become a reality.

While this cyber crime scenario can be depressing the important realization should be that we are approaching a crisis. The worst case criminal environments of the brick and mortar world may well become mirrored in cyber space unless action is taken quickly.