Scotland Yard police chiefs are considering plans to create
a computer crime unit of up to 25 detectives to investigate hacking
and virus attacks against businesses in London and to provide
specialist computer forensic services throughout the Metropolitan
Police.
The proposed unit, to be formed by merging five existing computer
crime operations across the Met, will create a single team of
computer crime specialists, second only to the National High-Tech
Crime Unit, which focuses on major organised crime.
The plan comes as the Met's existing computer crime unit, which
will form the heart of the new operation, faces increasing pressure
to provide support for paedophile and anti-terrorist work in
addition to investigating a rising tide of hacking
complaints.
Detective inspector Clive Blake, acting head of the unit, said his
nine-strong team was "stretched" and having to work evenings and
weekends to keep up with the volume of work. He believes a single
unit could help the Met work more efficiently.
"This is an entirely personal opinion but, looking at what the FBI
and the US secret service have been doing, it would make sense to
have a large, multitasking team, with an operational cell and an
intelligence cell in a self-contained unit."
Well-funded organised crime syndicates are beginning to move into
computer crime and are hiring hackers to break into firms' computer
systems to gather intelligence on their intended victims, Blake
said.
In comparison, the Met's computer crime unit, which lacks its own
budget, is considered poorly resourced. It has been forced to ask
suppliers to donate sophisticated equipment needed for
investigations free of charge under the Met's sponsorship
scheme.
Peter Sommer, security expert at the London School of Economics,
said, provided the proposals for a combined computer crime unit
were not derailed by internal politics in the Met, the move could
give police greater flexibility to investigate crime
complaints.
"If you have a larger group, you have more flexibility and you can
also have people who specialise. The larger the group of people,
the more sense it makes to have people specialising in, say,
computer networks."
Under the plans, the merged unit would bring together computer
crime operations from Special Branch, the paedophile unit, the
anti-terrorism division, and clubs and vice.