OSAC Item (Printer Friendly Version)

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

CurzTech News Network

OSAC Item (Printer Friendly Version)
from Australian Financial Review on Wednesday, April 02, 2003

The NSW Police Department is in the early stages of setting up a computer crime taskforce to protect customers from electronic fraud, amid heightened concerns over security at financial institutions and credit card companies.

American Express and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia are already on board, with the Australian Federal Police High Tech Crime Squad and NSW Crime Commission having expressed an interest in the group.

The taskforce aims to prevent cyber crimes against financial institutions and to provide online merchants and business people with high level expertise, advice and training to improve cyber fraud prevention.

There have been a number of high-profile cyber attacks recently and the Australian Institute of Criminology estimates that fraudulent activity costs Australia $3.5 billion every year.

ATM fraudsters hit St George bank late last year and robbed 100 cardholders of more than $300,000 in one weekend by "skimming" account details encoded on the magnetic strips of cards when inserted at ATMs.

Last month a massive security breach hit Visa, MasterCard and American Express; just weeks ago an email scam tricked some Commonwealth Bank internet users into revealing their passwords; and US hackers set up a replica Westpac Bank website last week although confidential customer details were said not to have been at risk.

Investigations co-ordinator with the NSW Police, detective inspector Bruce Vandergraaf, said the idea is to establish private-public partnerships where the police can tap into the technological resources available from the community, including internet service providers, and in turn provide guidance and advice to the private sector.

"Not every policeman is a computer scientist," Mr Vandergraaf said. "We've got the detectives and they've got the technicians.

"The private sector has a lot to offer and industry has a lot to gain from law enforcement ... I think most people would have to see the value in it."

The taskforce, which is likely to be headed by the commander of the NSW Fraud Squad, Megan McGowan, is based on a similar model belonging to the US Secret Service the New York Electronic Crimes Taskforce. Visiting US officials outlined how the taskforce worked to the NSW Police late last year.

American Express global head of security, and president of the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigation in Sydney, Bruce Cox, said the group has not yet finalised who should be involved and what it will be called.

Mr Cox a 17- year veteran of the NSW Police where he worked mostly in major fraud investigations said while the group is targeting the majority of Australia's financial institutions, "it's not so much quantity as opposed to quality", that the group is looking for. "They need to be people who have a similar interest to what I have, similar responsibility, and a genuine interest in preventing this type of attack on our customers."

Mr Cox said other federal and state government agencies and financial institutions have expressed an interest in joining the taskforce.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]