Shadow Home Secretary attacks e-crime policy

 

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By Tim Danton

Posted on 17 Aug 2007 at 13:54

In an exclusive PC Pro column, the Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, accuses the government of taking a "lacklustre approach" to e-crime and putting us all at risk in the process.

The article, which appears in the latest issue of PC Pro (on sale today), points out that "online crime is growing fast", citing a recent report that online banking fraud has risen by 174% in the past two years.

"The thieves and fraudsters are organised and sophisticated," writes Davis. "The frequency with which phishing emails purporting to be from your bank pop into your inbox highlights the scale of the problem. Thousands of people are becoming victims each year."

Yet, as PC Pro reported earlier this year, the e-fraud unit appears both under-resourced and under-valued. As recently as last Friday, the Lords issued a report which warned the government that it needed to get tougher on e-crime.

To quote the chairman of the Lords committee, Lord Broers: "At the moment it seems that the internet is increasingly perceived as a sort of 'wild west', outside the law. People are said to fear e-crime more than mugging. That needs to change, or else confidence in the Internet could be destroyed."

So what does David Davis propose? "At the national level, there has to be greater co-operation between forces to share the intelligence gained and take co-ordinated action against cyberscammers.

"SOCA [the Serious Organised Crime Agency] needs to focus on strengthening the international response required to disrupt, disarm and bring to justice the criminal gangs using the internet to prey on people in this country from outside the UK."

While the Lords report also pointed the finger at Microsoft, Davis says much of the responsibility still lies with individuals: "we all have to improve our own security" he writes, adding that education also needs to be improved.

The new issue of PC Pro, with the main coverline of "Who's Killing Windows?", will be on sale until 19 September.