Tories savage government on cybercrime

David Davis criticises government policy on information security

The Conservatives have launched a stinging attack on the government's information security strategy, which they say is failing UK businesses.

Speaking at the annual e-Crime conference this week, Shadow home secretary David Davis argued that the government needs to take "intelligent and persistent action" which is "forward-looking and imaginative".

"Criminals don't have to get lucky very often to make [e-crime] a highly lucrative business," he said. "The government approach has created data systems which are valuable, and vulnerable to attack – this negligent approach puts us all at great risk."

Davis argued that the absorption of the National High Tech Crime Unit into the Serious Organised Crime Agency was " absurd", because fighting cybercrime required specific expertise – something best achieved through a dedicated agency.

He also accused the government of dragging its heels over the ratification of the 2001 Convention on Cybercrime.

"There is no incentive on the banks to report fraudulent activity and there is no incentive for the police to report or do anything about it – you are left with the conclusion that [the government] doesn't want to do anything about the problem," he added.

Davis used the keynote speech to officially launch a new Conservative Green Paper on e-crime, listing several new proposals including the creation of a dedicated minister for co-ordinating e-crime policy, and legal obligations on financial services firms to report data breaches.