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SOCA defends e-crime record as minister admits gap

NHTCU 'nostalgia' misplaced, says UK's FBI

Analysis The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) has defended its record in tackling cybercrime, arguing that it has more resources at its disposal in fighting e-crime than the more specialist police agency it replaced.

But the defence comes as a Home Office minister acknowledged gaps in UK e-crime strategy and announced plans to establish a new e-crime reporting and investigation agency.

SOCA opened its doors on 1 April 2006 following a merger of the National Crime Squad, the National Criminal Intelligence Service, the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU), the investigative arm of HM Revenue & Customs on serious drug trafficking, and the Immigration Service's unit dealing with people trafficking.

Its top priorities in fighting drug dealing and organised immigration crime have prompted criticism from sections of the IT security community, who reckon the fight against cybercrime is not getting the resources it deserves since the absorption of the NHTCU.

David Roberts, chief executive of the Corporate IT Forum, said last December that IT directors are starting to believe that the government is failing to prioritise the fight against cybercrime.

"There is no source to go to to report e-crime, other than the local police station – and they have very little understanding of it. It is a significant problem," Roberts said in comments typical of those from others in the industry we've heard repeatedly over recent months.

The battle against drugs gets 43 per cent of SOCA's budget while the fight against fraud - a category that includes cybercrime - gets just five per cent of the pie.

SOCA has a total headcount of 4,000, against which the specialist e-crime unit may look small, even taking into account that the majority of SOCA's workforce are support personnel. A spokesman for SOCA said whether the resources SOCA is allocates to the fight against e-crime are adequate is a question for ministers to answer.

But, he added, the number of specialists officers tackling e-crime has been maintained over the last two years at 58, more than it inherited from the NHTCU (though it wasn't able to say what this figure was).

The spokesman said these officers were able to draw on a larger base of support personnel, such as 140 liaison officers in 40 countries across the globe, than was the case with the NHTCU. Furthermore these officers have been freed of the burden of covering child abuse investigations, a task that's been passed onto the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre.

"The NHTCU had a smaller headcount and included people dealing with child abuse," SOCA's spokesman told El Reg. He wasn't able to say what NHTCU's lower headcount was but maintained that the number of staff aware of e-crime risks was higher in SOCA than at the NHTCU.

"Some of the staff we inherited who specialised in e-crime have transfered to other departments while we've maintained the headcount in the specialist department at the same level," he said.

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