Companies failing to share e-crime info

Some companies still prefer to hush up electronic crime rather than help solve it, according to the National High Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU).

Although most businesses have co-operated with police to reduce computer-based crime, many pull out before prosecution, according to John Lyons, crime reduction co-ordinator at the NHTCU.

But the unit claims some major successes and has built a team of expert data analysts who specialise in retrieving information from suspect's hard drives.

"We are not going to win the war against e-crime unless we share intelligence," said Lyons. "Certain types of criminal, like extortionists, thrive on anonymity but e-crime does leave evidence.

"Our boys can recover the evidence they need from the computer hardware used. The only way to stop them is to take a sledgehammer to your hard drive, douse it in turps and get out the matches."

Lyons outlined a series of examples of e-crime to demonstrate the new methods being used to carry out traditional crimes.

He identified website spoofing as a major problem for UK financial companies. The unit receives almost daily calls from companies whose sites had been copied in this way.

The scam involves a fraudster setting up a website with a similar URL to a legitimate site, and then harvesting access codes from users who try to log on.

Eastern European gangs are also using e-government services to try and defraud the benefits system with phantom claimants or multiple payments to a single source.

"We'd usually advise clients to co-operate fully with the NHTCU," said Mark Smith, a solicitor at Morgan Cole specialising in e-crime.

"Although there are few crimes with a legal requirement to tell the police it makes sense in most cases.

"The NHTCU Confidentially Charter has been a great step forward in helping companies get the confidence to do this."

Lyons also explained how the NHTCU has a team in place to help companies with their media profiles when dealing with e-crime.

In the event of a prosecution the unit's PR staff work to avoid leaks and build a positive image of companies helping police with enquiries.