Legal, jurisdictional, and organizational difficulties hamper law enforcement agencies' ability to investigate and prosecute cybercrime. It took the telephone 38 years to reach 50 million people, television 13 years, and the Internet a mere four. Computer processing power doubles every 18 months. Toddington, an Internet consultant based in British Columbia, is a former senior manager in the Information Technology industry with a solid background in policing. He frequently lectures on Internet and IT security issues of specific interest to law enforcement personnel.
Triads finance their more violent crimes through the sale of pirated merchandise.
Canadian businesses too are becoming a target of cybercrimes, according to a 1998 study. Hacking attempts in Canada doubled from 1997 to 1998. And one Canadian vulnerability analyst says most Canadian government Web sites have been hacked or compromised. A wealth of how-to information and tools is widely and freely available on the Net. New hacker exploits, or variations of existing exploits, are released at the rate of about 20 per month.