A blackhole in Cyber Law Enforcement



Local Police is not investigating the reported ransomware case as it MAY fall in the remit of the National High Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU), which was amalgamated into the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) in April.

After reading this news article, I have no clue when or who will investigate this case. It seems in UK the law enforcement have not keep up with cyber crime. The local police said it is international crime and they do not have resources to investigate. The Soca seems only investigate large and organized crimes.

So when a crime involves international transactions and not organized, citizen in UK does not have any protection from their government even they report it to police. I believe what happens in UK is similar to elsewhere in the world. Police forces are not ready or willing to surf the wave of cybercrime.

The resource to investigate is huge. There may be some wrongly reported cases. The legislation and prosecution is difficult. All are the reasons that police feel powerless.

The issue revealed by the article is alarming as this un-patrolled area of cybercrime is definitely growing.

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