As the use of the internet, online banking and transfer of valuable
information becomes ever more pervasive, so increasing numbers of
individuals and businesses are becoming victims of electronic crime.
E-crime, as it is more popularly known, comes in a variety of guises,
from identity theft and fraudulent financial activities through to
hacking into IT systems and launching denial-of-service attacks to
bring down IT systems.

In a recent survey of businesses some 83 per cent of the respondents
admitted to being victims of some form of hi-tech crime during the
year. Of these companies, 77 per cent had suffered a virus attack, 20
per cent a denial of service attack, 17 per cent financial fraud and 15
per cent saw a corporate website being spoofed.

Now Wales has taken the lead in fighting back against e-criminals
who are inflicting major damage on both businesses and the community
with the announcement of the E-Crime Wales partnership, a three year
action plan designed to protect organisations from on-line crime. This
will be achieved through a package of quality advice, awareness
raising, information sharing, staff training, tighter procedures and
vigilance.
Wales is the first region of the UK to develop such an initiative; it
is being driven by the E-Crime Wales Steering Group, compromising the
Welsh Assembly Government, the four Welsh Police Forces, the National
High Tech Crime Unit (now SOCA), lawyers Morgan Cole, HSBC and SERCO.

The central plank of the initiative will be the establishment of
the Multi-Agency E-Crime Wales Unit. The Unit will consist of three
permanent posts to manage and implement the E-Crime action plan for
Wales. There will also be a dedicated budget designed to enable the
secondment of individuals with specific expertise from the different
agencies for specific projects. In addition, up to five police officers
will be resourced as ‘regional investigators’ to investigate and record
incidents of e-crime occurring in Wales and to provide a focal point
for e-crime awareness activities.