UK police 'can no longer cope' with e-crime

Report demands more resources and national IT squad.

A report issued by the Metropolitan Police has admitted that, despite serious under-reporting of computer-related crime incidents, UK police forces are forced to leave many such incidents uninvestigated.

The detailed report analysing the progress of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) e-crime strategy describes advances in the technical skills of e-criminals, a lack of public understanding of the issues and what is being done to combat them, and a shortage of resources and skilled staff in the current disparate section of the police dedicated to computer crime.

'The idea of greater centralisation of policing efforts against online crime is a vital one,' said John Hawes, Technical Consultant at Virus Bulletin. 'A major part of the problem has long been that the public don't know where they stand if they've been defrauded over the web or attacked by a virus. Much greater visibility of effort is needed to reassure people that someone is looking out for our safety and security online, and that if we are attacked there's somewhere we can report it and get something done. This needs to be done as soon as possible, and on a global, as well as national scale.'

The report also stresses the increasing organisation of online criminals, and how the physical threat of terrorism also requires computer expertise. A summary of the findings can be found on the MPS website, here.

26 January 2007

Tags: del.icio.us digg this