Kaspersky calls for international internet government

Eugene Kaspersky: We need an internet Interpol

World governments need to create an international governance and policing organisation to combat the growing problem of cyber crime, according to Eugene Kaspersky, chief executive at security vendor Kaspersky Lab.

Kaspersky told V3.co.uk today that governments now understand that there is a problem, but need to step up a gear in terms of international co-operation.

"In the past IT security experts explained that there is something really wrong and we have to change it. Now we are at the first stage: governments understand that we are in danger of a very bad scenario," he said.

"But the bad news is that they still behave in a very regional way, not understanding that the internet doesn't have borders.

"To fight internet crime and terrorism we have to build an international organisation, an internet government, an internet Interpol, which can observe the situation and behave as an independent multinational organisation."

Kaspersky added that the reticence of some companies to come clean following a hacking attack only serves to frustrate the efforts of law enforcers, and helps to "create comfortable conditions for cyber criminals".

However, he argued that Google's decision to publicise the hacking attempts on its networks originating in China was "strange".

"I don't have any data about these attack details, but these types of attack happen hundreds of thousands of times a day around the globe," he said.

"Victim companies usually don't report them, but in this case Google announced it. I don't know why. It smells strange."