Government has underestimated cyber-crime threat
The government has dangerously underestimated the threat posed to the UK from cyber criminals, according to the Conservative party.
David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said to a law enforcement conference that the government’s closing of the High-Tech Crime Unit two years ago was “absurd”.
He told the conference organised by Microsoft that the risks of cyber-crime in the UK were “serious, strategic and long term”.
“The stark reality is that the looming threat of cyber-crime, to the average citizen, to business and to government dwarfs our state of readiness,” he said.
If elected, the Tories intend to re-establish a dedicated ‘e-crime’ police unit along with creating a cyber-crime minister in government.
The government has said that it doesn’t believe e-crime is prevalent in Britain and that it is reluctant to burden the IT industry with heavier regulation, the BBC reports.