UK divided on e-crime strategy

Welsh go their own way with central unit for recording and collating e-crime incidents

The welsh e-crime unit will be funded directly by the Welsh Assembly

The Welsh Assembly’s decision earlier this month to establish its own e-crime unit highlights the growing split in the UK’s approach to tackling such offences.

England is now the only UK country without a dedicated high-tech unit. While there are proposals for the Metropolitan Police to set up a unit to act as a national reporting centre and coordinate across all forces, no decision has yet been made.

Simon Lavin, planning and development manager of the new e-crime unit, says Wales could not afford to do nothing.

‘We’ll see how we fit with the proposed Met unit when it is set up, but it was a question of taking a lead on this here and now in Wales,’ he said.

Detective chief superintendent Chris Corcoran of North Wales Police, chairman of the E-crime Steering Group, says the two primary aims of the unit are to develop business education and improve the recording of e-crime.

‘Recording of e-crime is a bit hit and miss,’ he said. ‘Every force does things differently so we cannot compare like for like. We want to educate businesses about where to report e-crime so that we can establish some facts as to the extent of it.’

The group includes representatives from banking giant HSBC, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), consultancy KPMG, the Home Office and the four Welsh forces.

The unit will operate a web site where e-crimes can be logged and detail where offences can be reported to local forces.

It will also foot the bill for a dedicated e-crime officer in each force. These officers will have the specific aim of engaging with businesses to improve their understanding of e-crime. This was a service that used to be paid for by the Home Office for all UK forces, but was axed last year.

The unit will be funded for three years by the Welsh Assembly. It will liaise upwards, with contact routes into the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) in London and the Metropolitan Police e-crime unit, as well as with the Welsh Assembly itself.

The unit will eventually have a central e-crime database, according to Lavin. ‘We will create a database further down the line. It will be central and will be populated by information that is reported to us and reported to the four local forces,’ he said.

Scotland has also recently moved its e-crime unit into the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency. The organisation liaises between local forces and the Metropolitan Police, Soca and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

David Roberts, chief executive of user body The Corporate IT Forum, says regional e-crime units are all well and good but cannot replace a national organisation.

‘While we welcome the launch of the Welsh and Scottish e-crime units, a national body to tackle this very serious issue is still sadly lacking,’ he said.

‘Cyber criminals do not respect regional borders. Our blue-chip subscribers need a joined-up approach from government and a body with central control and an international remit.’

NHTCU

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In April 2001, the government established a National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) to combat the growth of computer offences and solve serious crime in the UK. Some 43 local, government-funded e-crime units were set up to tackle similar offences at a regional level.

The NHTCU also co-funded the web site Get Safe Online, to educate consumers about how PCs can be used by hackers to distribute spam and launch denial of service attacks.

In April 2006, the NHTCU was rolled into the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), which placed responsibility with local forces. In theory, each UK force handles its own e-crime investigations, in liaison with Soca. In reality, there is little liaison and much level-2 e-crime, such as fraud, goes unreported.

The Metropolitan Police plans to roll out a new central unit to record and fight e-crime, but there are serious questions over how it will be funded.