The UK an estimated £27 billion a year

Cyber crime is costing the UK an estimated £27 billion a year, and UK businesses are hit hardest owing to high levels of intellectual property theft and industrial espionage, according to a new report from consultancy Detica and the Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance, notes V3.co.uk.

The study found the cost to businesses of cyber crime runs to for the time being £2 billion a year, and intellectual property theft accounts for the largest chunk at £9.2 billion, followed by industrial espionage at £7.6 billion and extortion at £2.2 billion.

The US federal government is a step closer to adopting a cloud-first policy with the publication of a new report, writes Computing.co.uk.

Federal CIO Vivek Kundra said: "The adoption of cloud computing will play a pivotal role in helping the government close the productivity gap between the public and private sectors."

The world's largest online social network as well gives its users the option to list themselves as single, married, in an open relationship or “it's complicated”, among others.

Web-based e-mail, social networking and peer-to-peer services are frustrating law enforcement wiretapping efforts, a lawyer for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation told lawmakers yesterday, now she did not offer concrete ideas on how to fix the problem, states PC World.

Many Internet services are not covered by the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, which requires traditional telecom carriers to allow law enforcement agencies real-time access to communications afterwards a court has issued a wiretap order, she explained.