Cybercrime Costs The Uk £27 Billion A Year, More Help Needed To Help Combat Losses

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Recently, a report produced by Ocsia and BAE Systems security subsidiary Detica, estimated that cybercrime is costing the UK government £27bn a year. At a press launch event, security minister Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones emphasized that while the figures are an estimate, they still give an indication of the scale of economic loss suffered by the UK.
The total figure covers £21bn from losses suffered by businesses, £3.1bn by citizens and £2.2bn by government, the Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance (Ocsia) said. It did not account for the other £700m.
Neville-Jones said at the Home Office event, "It's a bit like terrorism — the more you know, the more frightening it looks. It's not that the situation has changed; it's that you know more about it. Clearly we are not the only country by a long chalk that is suffering losses."
The government has allocated about £30m to fund the Police Central e-crime Unit (PCeU) until March 2015, to aid in its work leading national investigations into serious online fraud and theft, and improving the ability of local forces to cybercrime
The Police ...
... National E-Crime Unit (PCeU) is a part of the Specialist Crime Directorate of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, dedicated to combating e-crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The unit has a national remit, and was created in April 2008to centralise the efforts of all police forces in the UK (excluding Scotland) to fight all forms of E-crime.
The unit's stated mission is to improve the police response to victims of e-crime by developing the capability of the police service across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, co-coordinating the law enforcement approach to all types of e-crime, and by providing a national investigative capability for the most serious e-crime incidents.
The PCeU has been doing a lot of work around the funding as one of the partners in the programme of work on UK cyber security, said Charlie McMurdie, head of the PCeU.
New members of the unit are ready to get to work as soon as the funding is available. The cash will let the 41-strong unit more than double its manpower to about 90 staff and press ahead with plans to pilot regional centers for digital forensics and cybercrime investigations. McMurdie said the new cash should allow the unit to meet its target of preventing £504m worth of cybercrime-related damage to the UK economy over the next four years.
Cyber police need powers to crack down on hackers who cost the UK billions, the head of Scotland Yard’s e-unit said yesterday. Deputy assistant commissioner Janet Williams said gangs can target a bank before “jumping” ¬countries, by switching web servers, to avoid detection.
Police want to be able to obtain evidence much more quickly from foreign countries which will then be admissible in court.
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