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Morning business news - January 31

HARASSMENT A FEATURE OF CYBERCRIME - A cybercrime survey this morning claims almost every organisation in the country is a victim of nefarious internet activity from phishing through to identity theft and harassment. One in five said the cost of putting right cybercrime damage amounted to in excess of €100,000.

Owen O'Connor of the Information Systems Security Association, which carried out the research with UCD's Centre for Cybercrime, said some of the problems involved viruses, others misuse or theft of computer systems.

He said some of the cases involved harassment of employees through anonymous e-mails or messages. This included sexual harassment and bullying.

Mr O'Connor said his group's recommendations included better communication channels to ensure companies received adequate reports of problems and preparing for problems before they occurred.

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LONGER ODDS LURE LOTTO PLAYERS - If there's a single outright winner of tonight's main draw in the National Lottery, he or she will scoop the largest lotto windfall in a decade. Tonight's jackpot is estimated at €8m and the odds of holding a winning ticket more than eight million to one.

Consumer psychologist Colm Carey of the The Research Centre said the longer odds resulting from a recent increase in numbers to 45 did not seem to dent enthusiasm. He said a bigger jackpot often brought in people who were not regular players, whom he described as 'floating voters'.

Mr Carey said recent US research urged lottery companies to provide bigger pay-outs and make a fuss about the jackpot size. He said people tended to focus on the size of the jackpot rather than the odds.

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MARKETS - The euro is worth $1.2950 and 66p sterling.