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Cyber 'criminals' outpace State legal reforms by light years
by Michael Shields via reed - Reuters Friday, Jul 1 2011, 10:51am
international / mass media / other press

New Laws required to counter cyber threat

The State has always been slow to adopt new innovations, which it can ill-afford to do in certain fields of operation. Cyber space is ruled by the most skilled and nothing anyone could do would prevent that reality continuing. Any bleating from the Corporate ruled CRIMINAL USA or its puppet regulatory agencies must be viewed with the utmost suspicion these days. The world waits patiently for the US administration to be brought before the Courts for KNOWN war crimes and other crimes against humanity. Perhaps old laws should be enforced before contemplating new ineffective laws, or attempting to apprehend something you cannot detect!

(Reuters) - Cyber criminals are outwitting national and international legal systems that fail to embrace technological advances, a top U.S. official said on Friday, demanding a cross-border campaign to combat the security threat.

"Most countries don't even have a legal framework that really governs cyber crime. It is such a new phenomenon [hacking has been occurring for 40 years, 'new' my arse!] in that regard legal systems -- both domestic and international -- have not kept pace with the technological advances we have seen," U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said.

"And that is just the plain fact of it. We need to accelerate our response," she told reporters in Vienna.

Prominent cyber attacks of late have targeted the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Senate, and companies such as Citigroup and Lockheed Martin Corp.

The attacks have raised questions about the security of government and corporate computer systems and the ability of law enforcement to track down hackers.

"The threats are real. They demand our vigilance, including vigilance in protecting the values we cherish, [torture and civilian killing among them] and they demand continued cooperation," [grammatically challenged] Napolitano said.

Napolitano, is in Vienna to address an international security conference, she declined to comment on the status of investigations into cases but stressed countries had to step up their ability to cooperate.

"I would have to say that we are still at the nascent stage. There is no comprehensive international framework" for approaching the issue, she told reporters. The situation was no better in the European Union.

"We are all scrambling but we are scrambling with some of the best minds in the world and we are confident that from a technological point of view we are going to get to a satisfactory resolution of some of these difficult problems.

"Right now there needs to be some sort of international legal framework to address those and that does not yet exist."

A senior Chinese official denied last week there was any cyber warfare between China and the United States, after weeks of friction over accusations that China may have launched a string of Internet hacking attacks.

Accusations against China have centered on an intrusion into the networks of Lockheed Martin and other U.S. military contractors, as well as efforts to gain access to the Google email accounts of U.S. officials and Chinese human rights advocates. [Emphases added.]

(Editing by Ralph Boulton)

© 2011 Thomson Reuters

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