The European Union is stepping up the effort against cyber crime, detailing plans to create more consequential legislation, as well as promoting cooperation between different nations and awareness among consumers.
While the European Union, as well as individual European countries, already have computer crime legislation in place, Europe has recently seen an increased push for more coordinated efforts, in an attempt to keep up with evolving online opportunities for criminals.
The European Commission has called for more meaningful, targeted legislation and law enforcement to keep pace with cyber crime. Cyber crime, according to the commission, can be outlined as fraud, publishing illegal content, or crimes unique to the Internet, like denial-of-service attacks and hacking.
In the end of May, the German Parliament approved tough new anti-hacking legislation, ruling many more categories of hacking as illegal acts that should be punishable like any other crime.
But due to the cross-border nature of cyber crime, countries cannot go it alone.
European Union nations must improve police cooperation across borders in order to tackle child pornography, online credit card fraud and identity theft on the Internet, according to the EU's top justice and interior affairs official.
As the initial step, new legislation could be introduced later this year so that all 27 of the EU nations have standard laws to criminalize identity theft, said Franco Frattini, EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner, according to the Associated Press.
The battle against cyber crime in Europe means working through specific obstacles. The EU has cited key problem areas such as lack of coherent EU-level policy and legislation, low consumer awareness, and increased sophistication of criminal activities.
To illustrate the scope of the problem for both consumers and businesses, in its communication on cyber crime the EU referenced that an estimated 750,000 computers are infected through botnets every year in Germany and, according to the UK Financial Service Authority, bank fraud through phasing has increased an estimated 8,000 percent in the last two years.
"Awareness raising, training and research will also be essential in attaining our goals. This policy will be effective only if a strong dialogue with industry is put in place," Frattini said. "It is essential to work closely with member states, relevant EU and international organizations and other stakeholders."
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By -Lavasoft
JULY 2007
Last update : 27-07-2007 19:45
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