The ever-weakening job market could well lead to an increase in online crime as

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laid-off workers, especially those with computer skills, turn to scams to support themselves, Cisco Systems said in a mid-year security report to be released on Tuesday.

Disgruntled employees may target their former employers, and Cisco warned that insiders “can be espec-ially damaging for an organi-sation because insiders know security weaknesses.”

A former information technology analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York was arrested in April along with his brother on suspicions of taking out loans using false identities. FBI investigators found a flash drive attached to the bank employee’s computer with applications for $73,000 in loans in the names of stolen identities, the report said.

Cisco warned companies which use short-term IT consultants or who contract out the tasks to “be particularly vigilant about the level and term of their access to sensitive data.”

The report included sni-ppets of a conversation with a botmaster, or someone who remotely takes over computers without users’ knowledge and often sells the resulting access to spa-mmers.

The hacker declined to say how much he earned but said “a guy I know can earn $5-10K weekly, by phising bank accounts.”

Phishing is the practice of convincing a victim to give up valuable informa-tion — such as a password to a bank account.

The account can then be emptied.