Date: Thursday, August 16, 2007

Lords demand crackdown on internet crime

British peers have released a report criticising the government for their lack of action over the upsurge in internet crime and demanding change.

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee this week criticised the government for their laissez-faire stance over internet crime, likening it to the ‘Wild West’. They argued that the web was now a highly unsafe place, and that e-criminals were making a very good living from stealing money from people’s bank accounts. The Home Office responded by saying that they would be viewing the report and formulating a reply shortly. The chairman of the committee said that although they were great supporters of the internet, they said that people could not be expected to take responsibility for their own security, and that it was not possible for an individual to do alone. This is where they believe the government should be responsible for introducing tighter controls on internet crime. He added that the IT industry, software vendors, banks, internet traders, and the internet service providers are also responsible for protecting web users, but that the main accountability lay with the government. The report in particular stated that there should be a central system for reporting of e-crime, and more resources made available to the police and criminal justice system to find and take legal action against e-criminals.

The security firm Kaspersky Lab welcomed these recommendations saying that a central reporting system could be of great benefit in the fight to catch e-criminals. Whilst the committee admitted that the government was not solely responsible for protecting users, as they aren’t able to create laws against internet crime, it did say that the government could introduce incentives for the private sector to increase internet security, and could invest in better data protection and law enforcement. There welcomed the introduction of a kite symbol identifying secure sites, and said the government should give banks and other companies trading online the incentive to improve data security by making it a legal requirement to notify a central authority when it had been affected. It appears the Lords are well-timed in publishing this report, as last year alone banks in Britain lost an estimated £33.5 million through online fraud.

Sources: Times Online, Guardian, BBC News