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McAfee report paints grim picture of lucrative industry, despite incomplete data. Cybercrime could be costing the global economy as much as $575 billion annually, according to a new report from McAfee. The Intel-owned security company based its estimate on a range of sources, from government agencies to NGOs and academic institutions, counting both direct and indirect costs. The report, Estimating the Global Cost of Cybercrime explained the methodology as follows: "This study assumes that the cost of cybercrime is a constant share of national income, adjusted for levels of development. We calculated the likely global cost by looking at publically available data from individual countries, buttressed by interviews with government officials and experts. We looked for confirming evidence for these numbers by looking at data on IP theft, fraud, or recovery costs. In addition to a mass of anecdotes, we ultimately found aggregate data for 51 countries in all regions of the world who account for 80% of global income. We used this data to estimate the global cost, adjusting for differences among regions." However, the vendor cautioned that "differences in the thoroughness of national accounting", as well as underreporting of incidents and the difficulty of valuing IP all make calculations an imprecise art. High income countries lost more as a percentage of GDP, which could be because they have better accounting systems in place and/or that their IP is more valuable and therefore a bigger target for criminals. The $575bn figure therefore comes from extrapolating a global total from high loss countries. It could be as low as $375bn if McAfee had extrapolated from "all countries where we could find open source data".

Spotify UK drop into the red last year, since subscription revenue fell and the music streaming service invested more in growth here. When compared to 2011's profit of £21 million, accounts reveal Spotify's British arm made a loss of £10.1 million in 2012. Down from £96.5 million a year earlier in 2012 it fell to £92.6 million, the online music streaming platform saw this revenue fall. The decrease in revenue was partially down to its decline in subscription, which fell from £72.4 million to £64.7 million because of the alteration in the way subscriptions were booked. A minimal increase was seen by UK advertising on the platform, rising from £8.1 million to £9.1 million to the year ending December 31. Sources say that subscription numbers have been growing strongly in 2013 thanks in part to partnerships with the likes of Vodafone. Spotify UK declined to comment on its accounts but earlier in the year parent company Spotify Group said: "In 2012 the business focused on driving user growth, international expansion and product development, resulting in soaring user numbers and increased market penetration. "Our key priority throughout 2013 and beyond remains bringing our unrivalled music experience to even more people while continuing to build for long-term growth - both for our company and for the music industry as a whole." With its operations in the thirty two countries around the world, Spotify lets users stream 10 hours of music a month for free with advertising or pay a subscription fee for unlimited, advertising-free listening. Naming Sony, Universal and EMI, and to date has paid out $500 million in royalties to artists, the company has signed deals with major record labels with the said records. With 5 million paying subscribers Globally Spotify saw users leap from 11 million to 20 million in the year. UK numbers were not disclosed. From March this year figures demonstrate this has augmented to 24 million users and 6 million subscribe

Do you can see it coming? The return on 10-year U.S. Treasuries skyrockets, the S&P 500 remains down for 9 out of the last 11 trading days and disturbing economic reports pour in from all throughout the globe. The much expected "financial correction" approaches rapidly, and investors start heading for the exits. We have not experienced so many foreboding financial signs all converge at one time like this since just before the last major financial disaster. It appears as though a "perfect storm" is brewing, and so much "smart money" has already abandoned stocks and bonds. Could we possibly be headed toward another frightening financial crisis? Will we see a replay of 2008 or prospectively an even worse crisis? Naturally, so many people believe that we will never again experience another major financial catastrophe like the one in 2008. So many people think that this kind of "doom and gloom" talk is idiotic. Those types of people are those who did not see the last financial crash coming and who choose not to prepare for the coming one in spite of the extremely clear warning signs. Let us expect the best; but let us also get ready for the worst - and, right now, things do not look bright at all. The following 18 signs give strong support that global financial markets are headed toward a horrendous death spiral...

Amerikanska företag lagt 166,000 nya arbetstillfällen i September, enligt den jätte lön fast ADP, som varnade som jobb återhämtning "uppmjukning". Siffrorna kommit som Labor Department bekräftade det inte skulle släppa regeringens officiella månatliga jobb tally på fredagen på grund av regeringen stängningen. Enligt ADP: s senaste månatliga undersökning ledde servicesektorn återigen antalet jobb tillväxt, bidra 149.000 arbetstillfällen under månaden. Tillväxtområdena var handel och transport, som lagt till 54.000 inlägg, professionell och företagstjänster, som lagt till 27.000 arbetstillfällen, och konstruktion, som lagt till 16.000 inlägg. Ungefär 4 000 arbetstillfällen gick förlorade i finansiell verksamhet. Augustis ADP jobb tillväxt nummer reviderades till 159,000 från 176.000. Mark Zandi, chefsekonom på Moody's Analytics, ADP: s partner på betänkandet, sade: "arbetsmarknaden verkar har mjuknat under de senaste månaderna. Finanspolitiska åtstramningar har börjat ta en vägtull på skapande av arbetstillfällen. Upptakten av räntorna kan också göra några skador på jobb inom finansiella tjänster. Medan jobb har mattats, återstår det en allmän motståndskraft på marknaden. Sysselsättningen fortsätter att överensstämma med en långsamt sjunkande arbetslöshet." Avstängningen har lett Labor Department att skrinlägga sina jobb betänkande denna vecka. Ekonomer hade väntat USA för att lägga till 175.000 till 185.000 jobb till sina nonfarm löner figur i September. Förra månaden USA lagt 169,000 nya jobb och arbetslösheten doppade till 7,3%. ADP: s siffror har spårat den Labor Departments under de senaste månaderna men omfattar inte statliga jobb. Federala och lokala regeringar fortsätter att kasta arbetstagare. ADP sade att småföretag ledde återhämtning. Företag med 49 eller färre anställda lagt till 74.000 jobb i September, medan sysselsättningen bland små och medelstora företag med 50-499 a