Survey shows insufficient laws to prosecute hackers

Nearly three-quarters of IT security experts believe that international laws are inadequate for fighting cyber criminals, according to research.

Some 74 per cent of delegates at this year’s e-Crime Congress in London believe there is insufficient international legislation in place to tackle the growing threats of phishing, computer hacking and denial of service attacks.

The 110 respondents from 20 countries cite lack of global co-operation and inadequate police resources as the main reasons why internet criminals are not being prosecuted. Some 61 per cent say that current legislation is unenforceable.

‘It becomes difficult with jurisdictions and making prosecutions because there are no geographical boundaries on the internet,’ said Mark Murtagh, European technical director at Websense, the IT security firm that conducted the research.

‘It is a problem that is not going to change anytime soon. Criminal acts that are affecting people in the UK are often being carried out in countries where governments are not co-operating,’ he said.

Sixty-four per cent of IT security professionals believe that stronger legislation, such as the Council of Europe’s cyber crime convention, will improve how hackers, virus writers and extortionists are prosecuted internationally.

Clive Longbottom, service director at analyst Quocirca, says governments should agree to a set of rules and strictly adhere to them.

‘If the countries do not sign up they should be cut off from the internet. But unfortunately governments will never go with that approach because they do not like working together,’ he said.

As well as greater police resourcing and government legislation, technology vendors need to do more to remove security vulnerabilities from products, which can be exploited by criminals.

‘You are never going to be able to keep ahead of the brilliance of some of the criminals out there, but there are steps that can be taken to close some of them down,’ said Longbottom.