The National High-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) is next month expected to announce a major initiative to improve levels of public awareness around how to operate safely on the internet.

The initiative, dubbed Project Endurance, will be the first major project that co-ordinates efforts from a range of public and private sector sources and is due to be launched on the 8th November.

The Cabinet Office, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Home Office are all supposed to be working with the NHTCU, as well as Microsoft and a number of banks.

New head of egovernment Ian Watmore is also said to be closely involved with the project.

As the UK nears 29m people online, with up to 13m people conducting transactions online, the effort is seen as crucial to raise levels of public awareness and education.

John Lyons, crime co-ordinator at the NHTCU, says the campaign will initially target the small business community, but from the end of the first quarter of 2005 will be aimed at the general public.

'It's a hard job, and there's going to be setbacks along the way, but it's worth doing. The internet has gone from being a Model T Ford to a Ferrari in just a few years, but the public have been left behind in the process,' said Lyons.

Project Endurance will seek to help the public and small businesses understand the risks involved of working online and educate people on how to avoid being unwitting victims.