City of London Police and Kaspersky Lab combatting fraud

Cybercrime plays a huge part in fraud offence numbers today, with seven out of 10 scams now Internet-related, according to the UK’s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.

The complex and alien nature of such crimes, however, means that they are not only difficult to combat, but also to detect and understand. To help tackle the rise in cyber-crime, City of London Police has enlisted Internet security experts, Kaspersky Lab, to train its police officers at all levels on these ever-growing threats.

This innovative training program, the first of its kind with UK law enforcement, will provide them with the skills and knowledge to identify and resolve these crimes — from an individual victim encountering fraud during an online shopping-spree to a business losing thousands of pounds from a targeted attack.

The scheme will extend into further services and large enterprises across the UK, aiming to upskill UK industry on ways to protect themselves against cyber-attacks. Coupled with theoretical knowledge, the week-long training program allows for a real hands-on experience, teaching vital skills such as inspecting network traffic, analyzing hard-drive images and decompiling malicious software using specialized training tools and methodology developed by Kaspersky Lab. The training will also address the need for businesses to improve fraud reporting, to ensure police services and security agencies have a clear view of the issue.

The first of these programs was attended and successfully completed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau in February this year. While the course places emphasis on threats that are aimed at financial organizations and government bodies, which are the top targets for online fraud in the UK, the skills learned by attendees will also be applicable when combatting the cyber threats the general public face.

“As the complexity of cybercrime constantly increases, it’s imperative that the service’s knowledge of such threats increases at the same pace,” said David Clark, Det Chief Supt Economic Crime Directorate of the City of London Police. “With over 21,000 computer misuse crimes in the UK in the first quarter of 2014[1], it’s clear that people and businesses are at risk and need protecting. The UK police service needs to be ready to identify these crimes and have the knowledge to tackle them head on. This partnership with Kaspersky Lab further underlines our role as the national policing lead for economic crime and will enhance our capability for combating fraud and cybercrime nationwide,” added Clark.