Interpol Calls For Global Effort To Battle CybercrimeInterpol Calls For Global Effort To Battle Cybercrime

Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble this week called for the creation of an integrated cybercrime investigative network to combat the growing threat.

Noble pushed the idea of setting up a network that would enable police anywhere in the world to immediately identify and obtain help from security researchers and investigators in other countries 24 hours a day. He also called for building up information shares called National Central Reference Points and connecting them using Interpol's secure global police communications system, known as I-24/7.

"Law enforcement agencies and the private sector need to work more closely together, with countries creating specialist joint units ready to respond to a cyber-threat against their nation or to provide assistance for police anywhere in the world," said Noble, adding that the private sector needs to be more involved in law enforcement efforts. "The very people who have been pioneering the applications that have made the Internet so important in our daily lives can, and must, play an essential role in keeping it safe."

Noble was speaking to delegates at the Seventh International Conference on Cybercrime in New Delhi. Interpol -- with 186 member countries -- is the world's largest international law enforcement organization.

India's Minister of Home Affairs, Shivraj Patil, told conference attendees that the challenge of battling cybercrime is great. "While we, the law protectors, are meeting here to share our experiences as to how to fight the emerging cybercrime threat confronting us, the law breakers are meeting in person and in cyber space to identify new and innovative ways to commit more crimes," he said in a written statement.

The three-day conference also was focusing on terrorist use of the Internet, online child exploitation, online banking fraud, and digital forensics.