There used to be a force dedicated to exactly
that, but it was subsumed into the Serious Organised Crime Agency
(SOCA). Called the National High Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) it became
part of SOCA when that was established by 2005's Serious and
Organised Crime Act.
Now the country's biggest police force says
that local forces' e-crime units cannot cope with the ever
increasing amount of cybercrime.
"The MPS assessment is that specialist e-crime
units can no longer cope with all e-crime," said the report's
author DCI McMurdie in the report. "The ability of law enforcement
to investigate all types of e-crime locally and globally must be
‘mainstreamed’ as an integral part of every investigation, whether
it be specialist, or murder, robbery, extortion demands, identity
theft or fraud."
The report is from the Metropolitan Police
Service to the Metropolitan Police Authority, the body that
oversees the Met. The report says that e-crime is a much bigger
problem in the UK than has been previously thought.
"There is an issue of under reporting across
the UK," it says. "A US survey identified the global cost of
e-crime as £1 trillion annually. Lloyds of London estimated that
the recent 'I Love You' virus cost the global economy $10
billion. A recent report
by the DTI/PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) indicated that 84% of large
UK businesses had a malicious security incident last year and that
21% of respondents to a Government survey felt ‘at risk’ to e-crime
whereas only 16% worried more about a burglary."
"It is widely recognized that e-crime is the
most rapidly expanding form of criminality, encompassing both new
criminal offences in relation to computers (viruses and hacking
etc.) and ‘old’ crimes (fraud, harassment etc.), committed using
digital or computer technology," said the report.
The Met is currently conducting a review of
its approach to e-crime, the report said. "A review of all MPS
high-tech assets and external relationships has been conducted to
identify areas for improvement or where gaps exist that require
addressing," it said.
It identified digital forensics as the area
most in need of investment in the near future. "With increasing
utilisation of digital technology, the demand for associated
forensic services is likely to increase by 30-40% over 2006/7," it
said. "There is a need to plan for future demand, in order to
prioritise expenditure on the increasing costs of outsourcing."
Other bodies have realised the need for a
specialist e-crime force, and the Association of Chief Police
Officers is also investigating the possibility of creating a
replacement agency for the NHTCU, the report said.
