BBC News: Crackdown on computer criminals

[Richard Clayton]

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In article <000701bfe8bd$3b8ca800$6cf186d4@owenras>, Owen Blacker
<owenfb@easynet.co.uk> writes

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

So it is definitely happening ?

>said John Abbott, director general of the
>National Criminal Intelligence Unit.

So says Abbott

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

So it is only happening if the Treasury says it can ! and not yet !!

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

So it's for liaison

>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.

says Castell

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

ahha ! a man with evidence (sadly lacking from the debate so far)

>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.

So its for education, not for liaison.

Lets see ... 51 million spent across 99,000 constables (total police
strength about 130,000) allows for 500 each for training...  That's a
hell of good course to teach all that in a week (I assume they'll get a
really good bulk discount)

Mind you, that doesn't leave a lot of cash for the liaison role :(

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

from the current level of "routine" ?

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

(that's an AE, nice to see the BBC spelling things properly)

I think that some of these horsemen use the Internet to _assist_ them in
their crimes ... or is there a MIME type for class A drugs now ?

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

and lots of new opportunities to get caught --- hiding in cyberspace is
not as easy as some people think it is :(

>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-café.

So David Copeland expected to be intercepted and scrambled his data ?
Pull the other one!

hmm... so this unit is for training and for liaison. It's for dealing
with existing routine use and it's planning for the future. There's
already evidence of the Internet being used for crime and the police
believe people will hide and encrypt so as not to get caught anyway.
Finally it's all linked to the most recent high-profile case in the
news...

PS: please could the Treasury cough up !

And people say politicians spin things :-(

- -- 
richard @ turnpike . com                         "Nothing seems the same
                          Still you never see the change from day to day
                                And no-one notices the customs slip away"

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