Public awareness campaign needed to combat cyber crime
Following the publication today of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report on Malware and Cyber Crime - which assesses the current state of cyber security in the UK, and calls for greater awareness of cyber security issues - Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos has made the following comments:
"We strongly believe that greater awareness and education regarding internet threats is a key element in fighting cyber crime, and it's encouraging to see the committee's report not only back this idea, but also to recommend that messages need to be customised carefully for the different generations of people using the net.
"Simple, easy-to-understand language is by far the best way to help computer users understand how to protect themselves online, and we are keen supporters of the government-backed GetSafeOnline website. A key challenge however for sites and resources like this, is that they tend to be known about only by those already involved in IT security, rather than the average person in the street. The only way to change this is by a properly funded broad awareness campaign.
"A further investment we would hope to see following the report is more support for the international fight against cybercrime. A computer crime committed in Solihull could be perpetrated by a hacker based in St Petersburg, for example. Investigating crimes with an international element is inevitably costly and complicated - but as this is the nature of the criminal behaviour, it must be addressed.
"One thing which is clear from the report, is that we need an independent way of measuring the cyber threat that's out there. Much of the data used by the report is supplied by security vendors, who - one can argue - could have a vested interest in hyping up the internet threat. To avoid such accusations, proper systems *must* be put in place to make it easy for citizens to report internet crimes and malware attacks. This could start with better training of the police force as to how cybercrime works, to make many computer users more comfortable in reporting cybercrime to their local police."
