New BBC series offers a peek into the world of cybercrime
A new BBC series starting this weekend explores the vulnerabilities of the internet and how conmen or terrorists can hold all of us to ransom
The internet has become such a huge part of our lives and happened so fast that we - as individuals and as nations - have left ourselves very vulnerable, says Ben Hammersley, technologist, author and presenter of a new BBC series, Cyber Crimes.
In barely more than a decade, everything from finance to critical infrastructure such as power and sewage to political discourse and romance has shifted online - and with that comes huge risks.
"This is a new technical ground for us and there are technical vulnerabilities that we didn't envisage and secondly there are social vulnerabilities because by moving everything onto the network we create whole new social constructs which we never had to deal with before," says Hammersley.
Computer hacking is no longer about wayward teenagers getting up to mischief in their parents' basements. Cybercrime is a well-organised, incredibly complex commercial enterprise. And every year it gets more sophisticated - which is what the Hammersley details in his six-part documentary.
As you'd expect, the 38-year-old is a hi-tech kind of guy. We connect through LinkedIn and he quickly accepts a request to do the interview by Skype on his mobile - and all this while walking his dog and carrying his baby daughter.