Cybercrime requires stricter supervision

The size of cybercrime market, involving data loopholes and malware, are three times bigger than that of cyber security services, market watchers and researchers told the Internet Security Summit today.

Alibaba Group chief risk officer Liu Zhenfei said cybercrimes and the so-called grey markets, which involve sales and distribution of malware as well as the trading of personal data and other privacy information, are now worth more than 100 billion yuan (US$14.7 billion) on an annual basis, while the domestic market size of cyber security service business is only less than 30 billion yuan.

The integration of online and offline businesses means risk would contaminate and spread quickly and an inter-connected system would mean any loophole could affect the whole ecosystem, said Ant Financial chief executive officer Eric Jing.

The financial affiliate of Alibaba Group has been leveraging its data technology and cyber security service platform to offer protective measures against online merchants and businesses.

Guo Jianfeng, a researcher at the Institutes of Science and Development at the Chinese Academy of Science, pointed out that the financial technology industry is also an integral part of China’s cyber security strategy, but the relevant guidelines and regulatory measures are generally lagging behind the industry development.

Vice director Zhang Xin of The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s Cybersecurity Administration Bureau called for the strengthen of cyber security service industry by collaboration between private sector and public sector with the help of better industry disciplines.