Government boosts cyber crime fight with £63 million

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Home Secretary Theresa May has announced a £63 million injection into police efforts against cyber crime.

The money will be taken from the £650 million announced last year to shore up the UK’s cyber defences as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review.

“This proposed new funding will be used to develop the UK's overall response to cyber crime,” a Government spokesperson said.

“The Government is determined to build an effective law enforcement response to the cyber crime threat building upon the existing expertise within SOCA [Serious Organised Crime Agency] and the Met Police Central e-Crime Unit.”

The spokesperson said further details on the allocation of the £650 million would be announced soon. When divided up between the UK’s population, the money amounts to around £10.50-worth of protection per person.

The funding of cyber crime has been a burning issue in the security sphere, particularly in this country.

Some security professionals have questioned whether £650 million is actually a significant investment from the Government.

Last year, the Police Central e-crime Unit (PCeU), one of the key law enforcement agencies tackling cyber crime in the UK, had a planned £1 million boost from the Home Office cancelled.

Despite this, the PCeU has been successful on a number of occasions when taking on cyber criminals.

In the latter half of 2010, the body arrested 19 people suspected of being involved in multi-million pound bank account theft.

The suspects were believed to have used the infamous Zeus Trojan to acquire funds from UK financial institutions.

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