IT terrorism threat grows

By Paul Trotter

Posted on 23 Jan 2003 at 12:35

The government believes the Internet will soon be used by terrorist organisations to sabotage UK businesses and is concerned that global e-crime fighting capabilities are weak.

The UK's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) was established in April 2001, and the organisation claims to have made good progress in setting up the infrastructure to deal with the growing threat of cyber-crime. However, it's concerned that police forces in other countries aren't doing enough to protect the Web.

Concerns over the digital defences of Britain's economy spiralled after the 11 September terrorist attacks, and a government spokesperson has admitted that online attacks are inevitable.

'There's no evidence of terrorist groups [using the Internet] so far, but it will follow,' Bob Ainsworth MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State told PC Pro.

'We need to work on co-operations abroad - international structures are needed. But each country has different national laws and policies.'

The issue was brought to the fore at the NHTCU's E-Crime Congress in December 2002, when industry spokespersons said governments had previously left the Internet to its own devices in a bid to promote e-commerce.

'In the mid-1990s, governments saw the IT infrastructure as a great thing, but they've been reluctant to regulate it because it grows so fast and they didn't want to stifle innovation and growth,' said Scott Charney, chief strategist at Microsoft.

'But by letting the industry protect it, we've delegated public interest to markets. The IT industry is maintaining these infrastructures to protect the national interest.'

The NHTCU is trying to promote better partnerships between the government and businesses and announced a confidentiality charter to encourage companies to have confidence in new e-crime fighting capabilities (see p43).