Cyber crime is a business - and a profitable one too. Like any legitimate business, it prospers when it`s organised, has a pool of expertise it can draw from and forms successful partnerships from anywhere in the world. And it continues to grow. "Individuals alone cannot account for what has fast become a $14 trillion industry," says Andrew Ochse, product manager at SecureData. "This can only point to a well-resourced industry with massive manpower."

According to Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky Labs, contemporary cyber crime is like any other business. "It behaves according to traditional business principles such as profitability, ease of use, risk management and emerging markets." Over the years, cyber crime has decreased its reliance on a few skilled experts and adopted an aggressive business model that puts profit first.