Businesses and law enforcement must work closer together to stamp out cyber crime, warn cyber security experts
Cyber crimes could be better prevented and dealt with if businesses and law enforcement worked closer together, a panel of cyber security experts has urged this evening.
Esther George, author and former senior policy advisor for the Crown Prosecution Service, told a roundtable event hosted by access rights management consultancy 8Man: "If [businesses] would share some of the intelligence [they get from being victims of cybercrimes] with the police, it would help the police do some of their prevention."
George remarked that the current level of cooperation "could be a lot better".
Citing some of his previous research, Philip Virgo, former secretary general of Eurim, said he and his team "came to the conclusion that law enforcement would never, ever have the resources it needed" without better cooperation from businesses.
Meanwhile, Colin Nicholls, a QC and author, urged businesses to focus on prevention rather than relying on criminal law for a cure.
"Legislating is a very slow process, investigating is a very slow process and the cyber criminals are fast," remarked Nicholls.
Earlier this year, professional services firm PwC released a report on economic crime, which discovered that businesses had little confidence in police having enough resources to deal with cyber crime.
Meanwhile, a report by the Institute of Directors and Barclays released last month found that just 28 per cent of cyber crimes are reported to the authorities.