Met provides cyber pros with new forensic analysis tool

London's Met Police and Bromium have teamed up to fight cyber crime

The London Metropolitan Police Service is kitting out its team of cyber security experts with a new set of real-time forensic analysis tools.

On Thursday, the Met confirmed it teamed up with cyber security company Bromium to transform the way it investigates and responds to cyber crime.

Based in California, Bromium is providing the Met with its latest micro-virtualization technology, which allows experts to analyse malware quickly and securely.

FALCON, which is the force's specialist cyber crime unit, will use the tools to identify and investigate cyber threats affecting businesses and the public in London.

Bromium's forensic tools are designed to catch crooks specialising in malware attacks. Bromium claims the tools can quickly identify how attacks manifest, letting the force respond effectively.

As part of the partnership, members of the public will be able to get in touch with the unit if they suspect malware attacks. The cyber specialists will then be able to respond as appropriate.

The unit said it'll share intelligence with authorities such as Europol and NCSC to use as evidence when attempting to take down cyber criminals.

Cyber crime is growing at a fast rate, according to research from the Office for National Statistics. It estimates that there were 5.4 million fraud and computer misuse offences last year, and 3.78 million of them were cyber attacks in the UK.

In addition to these statistics, the latest Cyber Security Breaches Survey claims that nearly half of British businesses have been hit by a cyber attack in the past year.

Neil Ballard, detective superintendent, said: "The Met is committed to fighting cybercrime and works hard every day to catch and convict cybercriminals and support victims.

"Speed is an advantage when investigating these kinds of crime. Like biological evidence, cyber evidence degrades over time - websites are taken down and the trail goes cold. Bromium can be used to instantly analyse and gather evidence.

"The victim can then be immediately advised how to mitigate the threat. Evidence collected can then be used to track down the criminal and secure convictions."

Ian Pratt, co-founder and president of Bromium, said: "We are in the midst of a cyber arms race, and are supporting the Met Police to counter the threat by using real-time forensics capabilities.

"With Bromium, the Met Police can now put dangerous malware in a safe hold, allow it to run and detonate, without affecting anything or anyone.

"The Cybercrime Unit can analyse the malware in real-time, and gather valuable intelligence to see trends and flows that will help to track cybercriminals faster, and speed-up arrests and convictions."