Collaboration between police and businesses needed 'to stem cybercrime'

Businesses and police forces need to adopt collaborative technology in order to combat the growing threat of organised crime and fraud, a cybercrime expert has warned.

David Carrick, CEO of Memex, a developer of intelligence management software, says organised criminals now represent a 'multi-billion pound industry', necessitating that companies rethink how information is stored and shared.

"Organised crime is on the up in the UK, whether it is online banking scandals, credit card details getting into the wrong hands, as with the recent TK Maxx incident, or corporate fraud," said Carrick. "These crime groups are acting like multi-national companies and relying on the fact that there is a lack of partnership and information sharing between government, law enforcement and business."

Better sharing of information could deter criminals, who are as likely to be working on the inside of the company as not, he said, citing a recent KPMG study on fraud which reported that a large proportion of perpetrators are senior managers whose status in the company makes it easier for them to bypass internal controls.

"For a collaborative approach to be successful and to encourage more businesses to adopt a culture of data sharing, commercial organisations need to be educated on the IT systems and procedures they can put in place to monitor and track crimes internally," said Carrick. "This can go towards fostering a successful relationship with the police and better use technology to stay ahead of the game."

The burden of protecting companies from computer crime is falling on the shoulders of the IT manager, said Christopher Painter, deputy chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section at the US Department of Justice, and a regular conference speaker on cybercrime issues.

"As we become more interconnected, attacks are at an all time high with new and innovative threats being developed and executed," he said. "Increasingly, the burden of protecting companies is falling on the technology head."