What sort of international body should police the internet?

Politicians from 60 countries gathered last week for the London Conference on Cyberspace. One of the key aims was to encourage co-operation between nations to help combat cyber crime.

Cyber crime is acknowledged as a growing problem, which Prime Minister David Cameron told delegates costs the UK economy £27bn per year. A firm in Warrington, Cheshire, recently went out of business after its intellectual property was stolen from its servers, proving that the threat is real and present.

However, the fight against online crime is repeatedly hindered by one of the key strengths of the internet; the fact that it crosses international borders. The problem is that law and jurisdiction do not.

Addressing delegates at the conference, Matthew Kirk, group external affairs director at Vodafone, explained that a national approach to cyber crime simply won't work.

"The networks underpinning our critical national infrastructure are increasingly international, so you can't look at cyber security any more in a national context.

"The databases, domain names and address registries associated with these networks are distributed. That creates resilience in the system but also means that this national approach can't survive."

He added that the creation of an international strategy was in progress, but that any agreed rules between nations would have to be enforced to be worthwhile.

"If we cannot find an answer to how to create the enforcement capability [we will lose the fight].

"The key to preventing threats is to determine where they originate, and to be able to prosecute the perpetrator."