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Businesses shy away from prosecuting cyber criminals

It’s easy to see why the banking sector would work with the police, but this isn’t the case with other industries.

By Asavin Wattanajantra, 15 Sep 2009 at 11:30

Businesses often shy away from sharing information about cyber crime with the police because they do not want to end up dealing with a public court case, according to an expert.

John Harrison, an independent consultant with three decades experience working for BT, said that companies often don't want to prosecute when they become a victim of cyber crime.

Harrison, speaking at the ENISA conference in Greece, said that there was a risk of embarrassment for the business, and that the information coming out in the public domain far outweighed any benefit derived from going ahead with a prosecution.

He said: “The risk is - if I share [the crime] with law enforcement, will they feel obliged to [prosecute it in] court? Even if I don’t want to.”

Harrison added that he saw the benefits of organisations like FS-ISAC in Holland working with law enforcement as the police could obviously help banks, but other industries didn't necessarily mirror this “natural fit”.

He added: “I know in the UK they don’t [go to the police] because at a strategic level it’s not about instant response, but about trying to fix things."

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1 comments

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Buiness that trade online should wake up!

I feel that this is a BIG problem and one the business cannot ignore any longer. Business owners and webmasters should start to address their own internet security. It is down to them to ensure that every step have been taken to protect them self and there users. In addition to protecting themselves they should be prepared to take action if a cyber threat where to occur. I would recommend taking out website insurance. (www.websiteinsurance.co.uk)

By dave99 on Wednesday Sep 16

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