Ukraine puts cyber crime losses at $7.75m in Q1

Cyber criminals had stolen at least 7.75 million U.S. dollars from Ukrainian companies and individuals in the first quarter of 2013, an official said Monday. "Criminals began to break into a computer network to transfer funds from one account to another, from one country to another," Mikhail Akimov, head of international activities at the National Academy of Internal Affairs, told reporters. Akimov said criminals forged credit cards, changed magnetic tapes and applied special pads on ATMs to copy PIN numbers. Ukraine was implementing a special program to protect its nationals and businesses from cyber crime, Akimov said. He also suggested individuals protect themselves from cyber criminals by using complicated passwords.