European 'cyber patrols' to fight crime

 

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Posted on 3 Dec 2008 at 11:46

The EU has launched a five-year plan to combat cyber-crime, which will see the introduction of cyber patrols, joint investigation teams and remote searches used in the fight against cyber-crime.

The strategy has been sanctioned by the Council of Ministers of the European Union, and will see European law enforcement organisation Europol given more than £250,000 to integrate concrete steps for closer cooperation and information exchange between law enforcement agencies and EU businesses.

The five-year plan intends to introduce more joint investigations across borders, and will encourage police and businesses to respond quicker to information requests, and use remote searches and cyber patrols for online tracking of criminals.

It will also see police and the private sector share information, investigation methods and trends in cyber crime more effectively.

The Council said it has introduced the strategy as cyber-crime is a growing threat - with EU member states suffer thousands of attacks against their information systems every day, through viruses that facilitate the theft of information from PCs, spam, identity theft.

It is also hoping to clamp down on the growth child pornography on the net, acknowledging that images of sexually abused children online have quadrupled in the last five years. It claims that half of all internet crime involves the production, distribution and sale of child pornography.

"The strategy encourages the much needed operational cooperation and information exchange between the Member States," said Vice President Jacques Barrot.

"It gives a shared responsibility to the Commission, the Member States and other stakeholders to introduce the different measures. If the strategy is to make the fight against cyber-crime more efficient, all stakeholders have to be fully committed to its implementation. We are ready to support them, also financially, in their efforts."

Author: Dawinderpal Sahota