Tories slam government cyber crime policies

Accepting cyber criminality heightens the risk of cyber terrorism

The Tories want a new unit to tackle cyber crime

The Tory opposition has gone on the attack over the government's trend towards centralised data systems and inaction on e-crime, saying they are a dangerous combination that leaves our society vulnerable to cyber terrorism.

"If you accept cyber criminality you heighten the risk of cyber terrorism. The two go hand in hand adopting the same approaches, techniques and methods. The only difference is the motivation," said shadow home affairs minister James Brokenshire.

Earlier this year the Conservatives unveiled a number of cyber crime policies including:

-Ratifying the international cyber crime convention.

-Fixing the gap left by rolling the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit into the Serious Organised Crime Agency with another agency.

-Introducing a data breach notification law.

-Encouraging more internet security training in colleges.

-Giving a specific minister the brief of co-ordinating cyber crime policy across government.

Brokenshire was responding to last week's Lord Science and Technology Committee report on Personal Internet Security.