Police are 'blind and hamstrung' without industry help

Keith Akerman, head of the Internet Crime Forum, a subdivision of the National Crime Squad, said the police do not always have the resources to keep up to date with the latest technical innovations, and need a helping hand from the industry.

He also said that the vendors should make more effort to ensure their software cannot be illegally counterfeited. Speaking exclusively to silicon.com, Akerman suggested that vendors should design their products to be more difficult to crack and easier to trace.

"The vendors should take notice of criminals when building new applications and make it secure right from the beginning. If they involve the police with the development phase, it could help to reduce the crime on the internet," he said.

But Dr Neil Barrett, who works with the police and helps with their criminal investigations, welcomed Akerman's quest and urged more companies to report cybercrime:

"We need more cooperation between industry and the police... Industry must report computer crime, and allow the police to build up an intelligence database of criminal methods. Without that, they're blind and hamstrung," he said.