By Emeka Aginam, in Seattle, Washington
Latest report from Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit, DCU, and fact sheet has revealed that Malware costs the global economy $3 trillion in lost productivity and growth each year.

Just last week, Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu had revealed that Nigeria is losing about N127 billion which is 0.8 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP), to cybercrime yearly.

Microsoft’s DCU is an international team of attorneys, investigators, data scientists, engineers, analysts and business professionals based in 30 countries, all working together to transform the ongoing fight against digital crime.

The DCU of the software giant, as part of its mandates, helps fight global malware, reducing digital risk and protecting vulnerable populations.

Every second, according to Microsoft DCU, 12 people online become a victim of cyber cybercrime, totalling more than 1 million victims around the world every day.

While an estimated 3.3 million people in the United States are affected by consumer fraud with losses of more than $1.5 billion annually, according to DCU, Microsoft based on the information from the report since 2014 has received more than 180,000 reports of fraudulent tech support scams from customers around the world.

Anyone who has been contacted by potential scammer, Microsoft DCU noted should report their experience.

“Cybercriminals hijack devices, steal personal information, send spam, run phishing scams and target bank account. It is a global problem and no one organization can solve the issue of cybercrime on its own”, fact sheet of DCU of Microsoft revealed.

Since 2010, according to the fact sheet of DCU, Microsoft has worked with law enforcement and industry, leveraging novel legal strategies to disrupt the cybercriminals and put people back in control of their devices.

“As a result of the DCU team’s malware disruption cases, tens of millions of infected devices connecting to more than 50 million internet protocol addresses have been rescued.

“Microsoft uses the computing power on Windows Azure and big data tools to fight cybercrime and shares this intelligence with law enforcement and those responsible for critical infrastructure in a country.

“Working with law enforcement and other partners, the DCU uses civil law to take action against the cybercriminals while law enforcement seizes the physical infrastructure”, Microsoft DCU fact sheet further revealed.

“Microsoft is to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. The DCU combines big data analytics, cutting edge forensics and novel legal strategies to protect your data. Keep you in control personal information, and keep seniors and children safe online.

“As a result of DCU’s malware disruption cases, traffic that once communicated to criminals servers is safely rerouted to Microsoft cyber threat intelligence program, CTIP, in our secured and trusted cloud.

“Data gleaned from traffic is built into Azure active directory premium, providing further protection for customers.

“It is also shared with computer emergency response teams around the world that work with ISPs to notify victims and help clean infected devices” the Microsoft DCU fact sheet added.