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A Purdue University expert on computer security says that as cybercrime takes on a more global nature, it's more important than ever that governments around the world work together to combat the problem. Eugene Spafford"We're seeing much larger scale fraud and criminal behavior that has an international aspect to it," says Eugene H. Spafford, the executive director of Purdue's CERIAS (Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security). "We're also seeing a larger amount of espionage, both industrial espionage and nationally funded espionage. So, it's increasingly vital that global leaders take these threats seriously, put some resources into fighting cybercrime and cooperate with one another." No group -- from home computer users, to corporations to the government -- is immune to cybercrime, he says. A recent study by the National Research Council suggests that computer crime is a drag on the U.S. economy by billions of dollars. "As we're heading into what may be a recession, this is an area that should be of concern because it affects costs that are passed on to consumers," Spafford says. One national threat, he says, is the possibility of criminals getting into systems critical to the U.S. Department of Defense, utility companies and the banking industry. "It would be unlikely to bring the United States to a halt, but it could certainly be damaging," Spafford says of such criminal activity. Because of the increased volume of cyber attacks, Spafford says new talent is needed in the computer security field. "The whole area of computing, technology, security technology and reliable computing is one that has tremendous growth possibilities in the United States and around the world," he says. "In the areas of law enforcement and national defense we need a lot of talent." Click here to view video