UK plans nationwide IT security awareness campaign

Major public information campaign will warn of the dangers of computer crime

A week from today the government will launch its largest public information campaign yet to warn of the dangers of computer crime.

Full details have not yet been released but the campaign will involve government, the police and private industry. It will highlight the need to take care of computer security and to practise safe e-commerce.

"Next week there will be the launch of the largest internet information campaign," said Howard Lamb, crime reduction co-ordinator at the National High Tech Crime Unit. "You will see what I hope will be one of the best programmes of its type in the world."

Lamb explained that, while most of the IT industry is showing strong support, commercial service providers are proving the least willing to help. "This will be addressed, even if I have to go down and see them myself," he said.

Dr Nick Palmer, MP for Boxtowe, and a multilingual computer expert, also expressed his support for the programme, but stressed that it should not be a scare campaign but offer real advice.

"In next week's campaign I see a very slight risk that this might be like avian flu warnings, where the only thing people felt was risk," he said.

"The general public does feel that just pointing out the problem doesn't quite cover it. They want to know what they should do to combat it."

Dr Palmer is also leading a campaign to curb the use of spyware on UK computers.