UK should heed US advice on e-crime

Experts believe that the recommendations in the recently-released Internet crime report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) in the US are highly applicable to the UK.
Tamar Beck, group event direct for the Infosecurity Europe show, said: “The US report makes some very useful recommendations, especially when it talks about best practices to prevent Internet crime.”
She added: “We suggest that business users of the web download the report from the Internet and read through the recommendations, especially those that relate to business usage.”
According to Ms Beck, comments such as not judging a company based on its “fancy website” are very appropriate to UK businesses since it is now possible to assemble a very slick website using one of the several Internet site hosting kits now available.
This means, she explained, that it is perfectly possible for a rogue trader to create a website that purports to be a large and well-established company when in fact the site kit has cost the trader around £40, including a year’s website hosting.
“It’s also now possible to register a limited UK company electronically for £25 or less, go to the bank and set up a free business bank account and cash cheques immediately.
Add in the ability to access card payments through a number of Internet services and you have a perfect recipe for fraud,” added Ms Beck.
For a copy of the report visit http://infosecurity.us/ public_docs/2008_IC3_Annual%20Report_3_27_09_small.pdf