Crackdown on computer criminals

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/sci/tech/newsid_823000/823614.stm

Forwarded by: jeradonah () hushmail com

Friday, 7 July, 2000, 17:10 GMT 18:10 UK

By BBC News Online internet reporter Mark Ward

The UK Government is setting up an agency dedicated to fighting
cyber-crime.

The high-tech crime unit will help police forces cope with the growing
numbers of criminals who use computers and tackle the new crimes that
computers make possible.

It will aim to make bobbies on the beat as familiar with technology as
many criminals are becoming, said John Abbott, director general of the
National Criminal Intelligence Unit.

The unit is due to formally start its work by April 2001, provided it
gets the 51 million funding it has requested.

The new unit will co-ordinate work undertaken by Customs & Excise, the
National Criminal Intelligence Unit and the National Crime Squad.

Mark Castell, head of the project team setting up the unit, said it
would bring together all the work being done by regional police forces
on investigating and combating computer crimes.

Bobbies beaten

He said that many criminals were now using computers and the internet
routinely to prepare or co-ordinate their plans.

However, he said, many police officers lacked the skills to extract
information from computers, mobile phones and the net to catch or
build up evidence against criminals.

The unit will ensure that constables are familiar with new technology
and how it can be used to commit crime.

Mr Castell said as computers and access to the internet become more
widely used cyber-crimes would undoubtedly increase.

He predicted a rise in the numbers of fraudsters, drug dealers and
paedophiles using the internet to carry out crimes.

The wide use of computers also gives criminals new opportunities to
hide their tracks, said Mr Castell.

Some use encryption techniques to scramble data that could be
intercepted. Mr Castell cited the example of David Copeland who
anonymously surfed the web for bomb-making instructions from a
cyber-cafe.

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