IT expertise for law enforcement

Police hunt down IT forensics expertise (ZDnet.co.uk, 02 october 2009) the Metropolitan police puts £32 millions aside to buy IT equipments...

And the US Governement is looking for 10000 IT experts US on hunt for 1,000 cybersecurity experts (ZDnet.co.uk, 05 October 2009)

And the new Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT), has been opened at Queen's University Belfast (ZDnet.co.uk, 24 september 2009)

A centre for training, research and education in cybercrime

See teh website of the 2CENTRE http://www.2centre.eu/node/1

and the University of Troyes (France) being a partner to the project "L'Université de technologie de Troyes gonfle ses formations en cybercriminalité" (JDN, 12 March 2009)

Fraud - clickjacking increase; and police training

The American firm Clic Forensics registers a sharp increase in clickjacking, fraudulent modification of HTML code underlying a weblink on a website.
"Recrudescence de la fraude au clic fin 2008" (JDN, 30 January 2009) - the article shows graphs that are self-explanatory

see also "Flaw exposes Chrome, Firefox to clickjacking " (ZDNet.co.uk, 29 January 2009)

which makes police training more than necessary "Cyber-Crime: Law Enforcement Must Keep Pace With Tech-Savvy Criminals" (Digital Communities, 28 January 2009)

The difficult adaptation of police forces

It's about India, but frankly, the same article could probably be written in any country. The basic police officer has not been trained to detect and investigate cybercrimes. Nothing to be ashamed off, but something to act upon by various measures.
"Cyber crime still an enigma for cops" (reported by CCRC, 6 January 2009)

Idem for Kenya. "Police retrain officers to fight cyber " (Sunday Nation, 3 January 2009)

Otherwise, it leads to silly decisions like that of banning Wi-Fi..."Police In Mumbai Shutting Down Open WiFi" (TechDirt, 16 January 2009)

Investigation - Police forces (need of and training)

The difficult adaptation of police forces

Police e-crime unit calls for industry aid

Inadequate training of police forces - collateral damages Tuesday, 25 November 2008

New e-crime police - a welcomed addition?

New UK e-crime police training

Response to cybercrime: specialised investigation forces? Wednesday, 19 March 2008

Response to cybercrime: hackers as security guards? Friday, 14 March 2008

Fighting cybercrime: police forces

Police e-crime unit calls for industry aid (11 December 2008)

Inadequate training of police forces - collateral damages

A bit ironic but not enough when thinking about Julie Amero's life. If the information is really true, and there is no reason to doubt, this is a scandal both in terms of training of law enforcement officials, and in terms of complete failure for the American criminal justice system to protect the innocent. I am not surprised though; I studied the system enough to know that plea bargaining is a powerful tool and that the US Supreme Court's conditions are insufficient to guarantee fairness in the process. The ECHR has a more humane approach.
and by the way, not all charges were dropped as PB done

"Connecticut Finally Drops Charges Against Julie Amero" (24 November 2008)

New e-crime police - a welcomed addition?

Fraud being one of the most common crimes in cyberspace, it's good to see the National Fraud squad welcoming the creation of the e-crime police in the UK "National anti-fraud centre ready for action" (3 October 2008)

Meanwhile the City of London decided to take action "City of London pilots cybercrime scheme" (ZDNet.uk, 6 June 2008)
and Government hesitates "E-crime unit 'on track' despite funding delay" (ZDNet.uk, 16 June 2008)

New UK e-crime police training

They want to recruit from the technology industry. Providing they have enough money to pay the persons! See "Fears over funding for police e-crime unit " (2 October 2008)
No problem with that, but training in law and criminal law should not be forgotten ..."Police e-crime unit seeks industry recruits" (2 October 2008).
And in the US, it's the Homeland Security which helps out the businesses (1 October 2008)

Response to cybercrime: specialised investigation forces?

Recurrent debate of the UK, since the Government went against the trend to establish specialised forces for investigation of cybercrime. Whether the original decision was money-driven or not, what appears clearly now is that even businesses see they cannot afford to stay without effective enforcement forces. Thus, they even think of funding an e-crime unit. What about that? Sad that the Government which should be the leader in criminal policy chose to step back at a time when e-commerce is thriving.
More frightening really is the idea that businesses could have their say in the running of the unit. That police forces be accountable, fine; but police forces represent public interest and the State, not businesses' interests however important they may be. Accountability is to everyone and police forces should not be interfered with by anyone apart Government and fair accountability procedures. Otherwise, we are not far from private justice

"Businesses may be forced to fund e-crime unit" (18 March 2008)
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39369101,00.htm


To contrast with Tories' approach? Well, when money is at stake, some always find more money to avoid the loss. Yet, cybercrime is not simply about avoiding loss of money for business. Individuals' suffering (from loss of job to that of reputation, or even arrest with no attempt from prosecution to find out more) can be fare more important in terms of values society wishes to defend through criminal law and criminal prosecution.

See the BBC documentary on April 3, 2008 "Identity Fraud: Outnumbered Thu 3 Apr, 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm 60mins" http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/listings/programme.shtml?day=yesterday&service_id=4223&filename=20080403/20080403_2100_4223_10817_60

with the two related articles, one from Marc Sigsworth (3 April 2008) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7326736.stm and Sophos (3 April 2008) http://www.sophos.com/security/blog/2008/04/1255.html

and for the Tories "Tories attack gov't over cybercrime delay " (4 April 2008) http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39379892,00.htm

Investigation: police forces and the internet

The negative (and recurrent) view about the need for special forces and more money to tackle cybercrime: (15 February 2008)
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39292863,00.htm?r=1

and more specific problems of investigations: "German Government Struggles To Tap Encrypted Skype Calls" (28 January 2008)http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080127/10382079.shtml

with a US case that could well apply in the future to the UK: "Police Officers Can Search Your iPhone Following Arrest For A Traffic Violation" (22 January 2008) http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080122/005904.shtml

and an unusual turn to investigatigatory powers related to piracy laws (21 February 2008) http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080220/151032309.shtml

But finally for the positive side of the internet!!! "One Other Thing The Internet Is Useful For: Highlighting Dumb Criminals" (28 January 2008) http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080128/16063695.shtml

and for the use of YouTube (21 February 2008) http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080221/094928313.shtml

Fighting cybercrime: police forces

whereas the UK seems to take the opposite option with the dismantlement of the cybercrime special force, India wakes up to the challenge with training specialised police officers. Obviously 4000 persons is an insignificant number compared to the indian population, but on the other hand, it is not that bad because not even 50% of the country is computer literature. "India to train thousands more cyberpolice" (7 February 2008)
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39292697,00.htm