Defacto Damage: Unusual Trends in Loss Figures

[mea culpa <jericho () DIMENSIONAL COM>]

http://www.aviary-mag.com/Martin/Defacto_Damage/defacto_damage.html

Defacto Damage: Unusual Trends in Loss Figures
9/13/99
Brian Martin

A disturbing trend is emerging in computer crime across the United States.
A trend that can not easily be passed off as mere coincidence either. With
each computer crime comes a figure for damages and losses. Not
surprisingly, when media and law enforcement report these figures, they
are rarely presented as estimates. These figures are reminiscent of the
Software Publishers Association (SPA) and their stupendous ability to
narrow in on precise damage figures. The SPA says that $3,074,266,000 in
damages occured as a result of software piracy in the United States in
1997. Ever wonder how the SPA can nail a figure like this down to the last
6,000 dollars?

This ability is migrating from software piracy to computer crime damage
figures. Rather than inflate and use an age old tactic in bolstering
claims by using precise figures, the ones waving these damage figures
around aren't that refined. Every time I see any monetary value placed on
computer crime damage, be it software piracy of fallout from a malicious
hacker, I always think back to a book I once read. The first two pages of
the book How to Lie With Statistics explained this miraculous ability.

[snip..]