Chief executive of Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab, Eugene Kaspersky, fears many talented IT specialists laid off by companies will be lured by the prospect of big money and a low risk of being caught.

“I’m very afraid that the financial crisis will stimulate these guys,” he told IT Wire. “In times of recession there is obviously more unemployment and this leads to crime. There is no reason to think this won’t happen in the area of cybercrime also.”

Such a surge would come at a difficult time for businesses already struggling to reduce their expenditure on IT. Any cutbacks to security budgets could have disastrous consequences if key systems are compromised.

Kaspersky points to the growing sophistication of Trojans being propagated through the internet as a sign of what is likely to come. Many are designed to steal personal details and then use them to conduct fraudulent financial transactions.

At an international press briefing last week, Kaspersky chief malware expert Vitaly Kamluk demonstrated a rogue Trojan that can identify banking login and password details even when they are entered using a virtual on-screen keyboard.

By creating screen shots of a user’s desktop while a bank account is being accessed, the Trojan can steal all the information needed to conduct a fraudulent transaction without a user being aware.

Kaspersky, who spends considerable time trying to educate both business and individuals on the challenges posed by cybercrime, says such attacks are only going to grow in both number and complexity.