Written question asked by Tom Levitt (Labour) on Tuesday, 5 January 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 7 January 2010. It was answered by Stephen Timms (Labour) on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Business: Cybercrime

Question: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the level of risk to businesses posed by malevolent software; and what steps his Department is taking to (a) mitigate such risks and (b) tackle the use of malevolent software.

Answer: The Department has conducted a series of surveys of business to gauge the impact of IT security breaches and the response to security challenges such as the increase in malicious software. There is no doubt that such software is a serious threat to business and domestic users, and practical advice on protecting systems against it features in our work with GetSafeOnLine"http://www.getsafeonline.org/"aimed at informing the public and smaller businesses; our work with business through the Digital Systems Knowledge Transfer Network; and our work with the management of the Critical National Infrastructure. The pursuit of those who develop and use such software is a matter for the law enforcement authorities.

Secondary information