The chief research officer at security firm F-Secure has used the company's third-quarter statement to call for the establishment of an international police force to tackle online crime.

Mikko Hyppönen warned that the current mish-mash of national law enforcement is proving ineffective, and said that a global approach is necessary.

"We should consider the creation of an online version of Interpol - 'Internetpol' - specifically tasked with targeting and investigating the top of the crime-ware food chain," he said.

"If we do not act now to fight the source of crime-ware, it will continue to grow stronger and threaten to destroy the current model of internet business, banking and commerce."

Hyppönen explained that there are still some countries where writing and spreading malware is not yet a crime owing to the relatively new nature of the activity and legislators having other priorities.

Where internet crime is being prosecuted the local nature of the offences is letting the perpetrators get away with relatively minor sentences.

"The internet has no borders and online crime is almost always international, yet local police authorities often have limited resources for investigations," said Hyppönen.

"Even if the locations of online criminals are discovered, the investigations rarely uncover the full scope of the crime. The victims, police, prosecutors and judges cannot see the full picture and therefore do not know the true costs of the crime."