Law enforcement and business must work together to combat the
growing threat of cyber-crime, says the UK police e-crime head.
"Law enforcement should not and cannot deal with this threat
alone," deputy assistant commissioner
Janet Williams, told Computer Weekly at the eCrime Congress in
London.
Williams, who is the lead on e-crime for the Association of
Chief Police Officers (ACPO), plans to build a
collaborative relationship between UK police and business,
starting this year.
The financial sector is to be the first industry to collaborate
with police to tackle cyber-crime, with a formal agreement on
sharing resources expected in May.
Sharing information across the sector on how and why attacks are
taking place will enable police to develop a better understanding
of the problem and how to prevent it, said Williams.
"I see it as setting up a proactive virtual taskforce that will
become a model for collaborating with other industry sectors in
future," she said.
This approach enables law enforcement to tap into a wider pool
of technology, expertise and manpower resources than limited police
budgets will allow.
Alluding to the relatively
small amount of funding of £7m for the national Police Central
eCrime Unit (PceU), Williams said the task demanded some
"imagination and creativity".
"A combination of police, industry and academic resources can be
geared to specific outcomes to send the message that cyber-crime
will not be tolerated," she said.