ComputerWeekly.com have recently reported on the lack of policing available, to deal with crimes being committed in cyber space. During a speech delivered at an organisation of business membership ‘London First‘, the Police Commissioner of London Mr Adrian Leppard stated …
“The issue of policing in the digital age will reach a watershed of fundamentally restructuring the service offering of policing to society.” and then went on to say “Frankly, the scale of policing in the digital age is very poor at the moment – we do not have a good policing presence in cyber space, where so much crime is taking place.”
Economic crime amounts to approximately £50 billion a year in losses according to Mr Leppard. However, only 20% of the overall amount of crime being committed on the internet is actually being reported to the Police. Indeed, Alexandra Locksmiths have previously highlighted a number of instances in which potential online security threats leading to crimes could occur, in our blogs ‘Potential internet security threat with your home gadgets‘ and ‘Your security cameras are private? Maybe not!‘. These two posts only highlight a small proportion of potential internet crime.
The article in ComputerWeekly.com, has suggested that one of the main problems of dealing with internet crime, arises through an inaccurate idea of the full scale of the problem. Mr Leppard’s comments would appear to back this suggestion, if only one fifth of all internet crime is being reported.
As Mr Leppard has said, another major contributing factor to the current lack of adequate help in place for dealing with online crimes is the lack of Police available to process incidents. Mr Leppard also stated that only 20% of the currently reported crimes could actually be processed satisfactorily. He has stated that with £850 million being invested by government in cyber security, in order to protect both the public and businesses, there is not much more that government can be asked to do. However, that will just not be enough.
“Society is going to get protected only through the infrastructure of private sector and industry,” “It is a big challenge for us in policing to think this through and say that the traditional enforcement is not going to solve the problem.” The London Police Commissioner said.
It would seem that Crime Prevention is believed to warrant a far greater need, according to Mr Leppard. He admits that the Police force cannot be solely responsible for dealing with internet security. He believes that companies in the private sector, can have a part to play in the general security of cyber space for everyone’s benefit. Legislation laid down by government will also need to be in place to ensure that encryption no longer persists in preventing law enforcement.
“Our powers in digital communication in particular are vitally important to protect society, and we are on the verge of losing vital ground if the government does not take action,” said Mr Leppard.
The article ‘Hackers and cybercrime prevention‘, also produced by ComputerWeekly.com is worth a read if you have concerns regarding the internet security of your home and/or business. And the two blogs by Alexandra Locksmiths ‘Potential internet security threat with your home gadgets‘ and ‘Your security cameras are private? Maybe not!‘ are also relevant at a more personal level.
If you would like help or guidance regarding the security of your home then please do not hesitate to call Alexandra Locksmiths on 020 8883 1555 or 020 8364 2000.
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With thanks for the use of the photograph to User:Colin / Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0