24 April 2007

House of Lords call for more police involvement in internet security

Eleanor Dallaway, reporting from Infosecurity London

Speaking at the opening keynote of Infosecurity London, Lord Broers reported on the House of Lords’ enquiry into internet security. He said that broadband, internet banking, the explosion of spam and phishing, and shocking incidents of paedophilia are all behind the urgency of the enquiry.

Concerned primarily with the nature of threat to individuals, Lord Broers suggested that less responsibility should be put on the end user to prevent crime, and that operating suppliers, sites and distributors should be held responsible for their actions.

“As part of our effort to accumulate evidence for the enquiry, we spent some time in the USA visiting Apple, Microsoft, the FBI, research companies and various other security companies and people concerned with security. Even if some of these American organisations may not be doing enough to tackle internet crime, they all take it very seriously”. Lord Broers implied that an increase in awareness of cybercrime is necessary in order for the UK to start taking adequate precautions against internet crime.

Currently, the police do not take internet security issues seriously enough, implied Broers. “If somebody robbed you in the street, you’d report it to the police. But people that lose hundreds of pounds in a phishing scandal, don’t think to report it in the same manner. But if everybody did, then the police would have to start taking it seriously”, said Lord Broers. For example, when phishing scams occur and bank details are robbed, the victim is told to report the incident to the bank instead of the police.

In the USA, data breach security laws exist in more than 30 states. In the UK, there are none, and no immediate plans to introduce them. “UK police and law need to make the shift into the modern, electronic world and recognise internet crime as dangerous and threatening”, he said.

Lord Broers argued that advice on internet security should be made more readily available in order to raise awareness. “In the US, there are many university research centres dedicated to internet security. In the UK, we have very few”, he said.

Selling computers and software that are vulnerable to threat and asking the customer to purchase additional security products to protect it seems unreasonable, said Lord Broers. “It’s the same as selling poisonous water to a customer and expecting the consumer to filter it themselves – it would be completely unacceptable”,

One of the biggest areas for concern surrounding internet security is the population of sexual predators surfing the net. The internet also acts as a resource for paedophiles to exchange illegal and “outrageously shocking” content. With 80% of youth using the internet in an inappropriately sophisticated manner, huge security risks are occurring and making young people vulnerable.

“The internet is a wonderful research and therefore we must not let it be hijacked by the force of evil”, concluded Lord Broers.

The House of Lords is currently drawing conclusions from the enquiry, and will publish a report of evidence on their findings in July.

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