Europe wages war on cyber crime

Europe is stepping up the fight against cyber crime, outlining plans to create more meaningful legislation and promote greater, cross-border co-operation.

The European Commission said legislation and law enforcement - especially across borders - needs to keep pace with new and evolving opportunities for criminals.

It said cyber crime comes in three forms: established crimes such as fraud, publication of illegal content, and crimes unique to the internet - such as denial of service attacks and hacking.

The Commission said laws targeting particular crimes - such as ID theft - and identifying those responsible for enforcing them will currently be more effective than general cyber crime legislation.

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As part of the targeted legislation, the Commission will consider laws for tackling ID theft later this year.

The EC identified several key issues that need to be considered in the fight against e-crime.

These include the increasing sophistication of criminal activity, a lack of coherent EU-level policy and legislation, and a lack of awareness among consumers. As a result it wants to strengthen law enforcement organisations such as Europol.

Another outcome of the EU cyber crime push could be better data-collection and more readily available cyber crime statistics.