The new agency
is drawing on officers from the former National Crime Squad and
National Criminal Intelligence Agency. Drug trafficking
intelligence officers from HM Revenue & Customs and specialist
organised immigration crime officers from the Immigration Service
are also involved.
One function of SOCA is to replace the National Hi Tech Crime
Unit. The NHTCU, launched in April 2001, was the UK's first
national law enforcement organisation dealing exclusively with
computer crime, such as computer-related fraud, hacking, industrial
espionage, viruses and denial of service, child porn and software
piracy.
According to Home Secretary Charles Clarke, the agency “will
work across operational boundaries to tackle the problem, focusing
its resources on where the harms are the greatest. Drug and people
trafficking will be its top priorities along with fraud and
identity theft.”
Agents will “exploit hi-tech 21st century technology and uncover
the new wave of crime bosses,” he added. “They will draw on new
powers of search, seizure and interrogation to provide a
specialised and relentless attack on organised crime, alongside
existing law enforcement agencies."
But Struan Robertson, editor of OUT-LAW, said today: "It is
surprising and a little disappointing that the NHTCU isn't
even mentioned in the publicity material for SOCA. While
SOCA's manifesto includes combating frauds that use the
internet, we really can't say whether SOCA will be more effective
than the NHTCU."
Robertson says it is too early to say if it will or will
not bring more cyber criminals to justice. "But the biggest problem
is likely to be resource: the remit of SOCA is wide and it will
need to prioritise," he said. The SOCA Board has already suggested
that only 10% of SOCA's effort will be directed at fraud – which
will include phishing and investment or advance fee
frauds.
Another problem could be that, if the frauds are the work of an
individual, not an organised crime syndicate, they may be
beyond SOCA's reach. "Such crimes were of concern to the NHTCU but
if SOCA doesn't get involved, would they be left to local police,
who won't be as well equipped to investigate and bring cyber
criminals to justice," asked Robertson. "We've sought clarification
from the Home Office, but haven't had a response yet."
