Enforcement of laws relating to electronic crime is falling behind other crimes 
(27/07/2007)
The sheer scale of electronic crime appears to be overwhelming the Police and other UK regulatory authorities, Phil Higgins, a senior partner with Brookcourt Solutions has warned.
"Judging from a recent news report entitled `The Shambles over Cybercrime' in the Guardian, the enforcement of laws relating to electronic crime appears to be falling behind other crimes," said Higgins, who added that the cause appears to be the absorption of the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit into the Serious and Organised Crime Agency.
"It's not for me to comment on the effective decriminalisation of cybercrime, but the reality is that banks and other financial institutions appear to have taken over from the Police when it comes to investigation of card fraud and other allied crimes," he said.
"This is a clear warning to anyone using or involved in online commerce - in any shape or form - you may not be able to reply on the deterrent of the Police and other enforcement agencies any more," he added.
Higgins said that, whilst he was appalled to read of the state of UK cybercrime enforcement, he is not entirely surprised. "Many companies install their suite of standard IT security software and think that's all they need to do to protect themselves. And when they get hit by cybercrime, it seems the Police are too overloaded to prosecute," he said.
"Companies need to protect their interests. This is why we say – over and over - that a sophisticated best of breed multi-product approach is the best safety net for companies involved in e-commerce," he added. It's a big bad world out there and the problem - and enforcement – of cybercrime is getting worse."
Related topics: Crime and Fraud Prevention Hacking and intrusion prevention Legislation Virus, Worm, Email security, spyware and malware
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