IT terrorism threat grows

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded from: ERRI-SIX <sysop () mail emergency com>

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/?http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/news_story.php?id=37460

Thursday 23rd January 2003
[PC Pro] 12:35
Paul Trotter

The government believes the Internet will soon be used by terrorist
organisations to sabotage UK businesses and is concerned that global
e-crime fighting capabilities are weak. The UK's National Hi-Tech
Crime Unit (NHTCU) was established in April 2001, and the organisation
claims to have made good progress in setting up the infrastructure to
deal with the growing threat of cyber-crime. However, it's concerned
that police forces in other countries aren't doing enough to protect
the Web.

Concerns over the digital defences of Britain's economy spiralled
after the 11 September terrorist attacks, and a government
spokesperson has admitted that online attacks are inevitable.

'There's no evidence of terrorist groups [using the Internet] so far,
but it will follow,' Bob Ainsworth MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary
of State told PC Pro.

'We need to work on co-operations abroad - international structures
are needed. But each country has different national laws and
policies.'

The issue was brought to the fore at the NHTCU's E-Crime Congress in
December 2002, when industry spokespersons said governments had
previously left the Internet to its own devices in a bid to promote
e-commerce.

'In the mid-1990s, governments saw the IT infrastructure as a great
thing, but they've been reluctant to regulate it because it grows so
fast and they didn't want to stifle innovation and growth,' said Scott
Charney, chief strategist at Microsoft.

'But by letting the industry protect it, we've delegated public
interest to markets. The IT industry is maintaining these
infrastructures to protect the national interest.'

The NHTCU is trying to promote better partnerships between the
government and businesses and announced a confidentiality charter to
encourage companies to have confidence in new e-crime fighting
capabilities.



-
ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org

To unsubscribe email majordomo () attrition org with 'unsubscribe isn'
in the BODY of the mail.