We all know how important it is to keep our personal information safe.
You do everything you can to shield your cash machine PIN from prying eyes, you shred important household documents and you try to make your email passwords as secure as possible.
The consequences of failing with such housekeeping measures can be dire both in terms of financial loss and the bureaucratic nightmare cleaning up such a mess inevitably brings.
Companies that fail to properly protect their systems are increasingly finding themselves facing similar predicaments but often the consequences are exponentially greater.
Organised cyber criminals those who use software to remotely identify weaknesses in computer systems in order to steal personal data, bank account records and confidential commercially sensitive information are only upping their fraudulent behaviour despite the best efforts of the police.
The digital web they weave can be nigh on unravellable leaving law enforcement officers chasing shadows.
New figures produced on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills this week gave an overview of just how significant an issue cyber crime has become for the business community.
The report found that four out of every five businesses in Scotland whether large or small has suffered at the hands of these organised criminals.
Of firms polled, 79% said they’d been the subject of a hacking attempt while 74% said they’d come under attack from malicious software or digital viruses.
The sums involved are simply staggering and in many cases could be fatal to the company involved.
The BIS data found that the average cost to small firms of being digitally compromised was between £35,000 and £65,000 and the same figure for larger organisations was between £450,000 and £850,000.
The average loss equates to 6% of turnover.
Where insurance is in place the loss may be made good but for many SMEs already struggling to survive and unable to sustain extra premiums it can mean increased hardship, job losses and doors closing at otherwise sound firms.
BIS is hoping to combat the problem which has grown an incredible 50% in the past year alone by publishing new security advice and extending a voucher scheme giving them the chance to bid for up to £5,000 to improve their digital defences.
But with a total pot worth just £500,000 (less than many big firms are losing in a single online attack) this cannot be seen as a serious attempt to tackle the issue.
Only a concerted, strategically focused, police-led and well funded campaign has any chance of striking at the heart of the criminal fraternity putting jobs and the UK’s economic fightback in peril.
Companies must take whatever precautions they can to protect themselves and their customers but government has to demonstrate they take the issue as seriously as the criminals living on the proceeds of others’ misery.