The government is giving police stronger powers to tackle cyber-criminals after it was revealed that internet financial fraud cost the UK £121m last year.

Addressing the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit's (NHTCU) second e-Crime Congress, Caroline Flint, junior Home Office minister, said the government would make changes to the Computer Misuse Act to allow police to prosecute people for creating computer attacks such as denial of service.

The legislation will also be strengthened to allow the courts to press for stronger penalties for incidents of forging data, such as faking a website.

"The Home Office is working on this and sees it as a priority," said Flint, adding that the government and law enforcement agencies were working to develop a coherent strategy to implement international co-operation to beat the global threat of e-crime.

However, Flint declined to provide a timetable for the changes.

Increased co-operation between government, business and law enforcement agencies is vital to stop organised crime taking advantage of the anonymity of the internet, experts have warned.

Overall, internet fraud cost businesses in the UK over £121m in 2003, according to the NHTCU. This is made up of financial losses, clear-up costs and the loss of customer confidence. Theft of data itself cost £6.6m, while virus attacks cost £27.8m to clear up.

Financial fraud is the most prevalent of all internet crime, with three financial institutions admitting that they suffered losses last year of more than £20m each.