The government has been allocating more money into efforts to fight cyber crime, according to a spokesperson from the Ministry of Public Safety, following a report by Toronto-based research firm International Perspectives, highlighting the need for government to beef up the fight against online crooks.
Philip McLinton, spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Safety, said the ministry is committed to securing the resources they need to address "ever-evolving and increasingly sophisticated forms of crime, such as cyber crime."
The International Perspective's report on cyber crime entitled, 'Cyber Crime: It's Everyone's Responsibility', urged the Canadian government to take further action.
Commenting on the study, McLinton noted that last August, the Ministry of Public Safety announced $100,000 in federal funding to support the Canadian Association of Police Boards (CAPB) in conducting a comprehensive analysis of cyber crime in Canada.
With respect to addressing Internet predators and child exploitation, McLinton added the Ministry of Public Safety is "committed to the global fight against the sexual exploitation of children."
"The government of Canada continues to work with its domestic and international partners to address serious crime, and Budget 2007 allocated an additional $6 million per year to strengthen existing initiative to combat sexual exploitation and trafficking of children."
Ian Wilms is the president of the CAPB, which is conducting the comprehensive study of cyber crime in Canada. Wilms is also working to establish CyberPol, a global centre envisioned to become a central agency for fighting cyber crime.
"We're trying to ensure that people understand that (CyberPol) is going to be a collaborative centre of excellence, bringing together best practices and a centre that can help facilitate issues with computer crime, whether it's research or legal issues," said Wilms.
Wilms added that a site at the University of Calgary has been earmarked as the temporary home for CyberPol, and that there is currently a law before the legislature to create the shell organization of CyberPol.
He noted that the cyber crime impact study they are conducting will include speaking with people across Canada to determine the extent of cyber crime. They will also be conducting a feasibility study as to how best to implement the CyberPol project.
"Canada's so far behind (battling cyber crime) it's mind boggling," said Wilms. "I think the study is going to show Canadians that we are being abused badly, I think people will be shocked by the number of pedophiles on the Internet."
Wilms added that law enforcement is not nearly at the capacity that is needed, and that Canada does not have the right laws in place to go after online offenders.
Bruce Cowper, Microsoft Canada's senior program manager for security initiative, conceded that more needs to be done.
B "I agree with a lot of points made in the (International Perspectives) report," said Cowper. "In working with the government, I think general awareness within the government is certainly a big challenge."
Another challenge that exists, he added, is lack of consistency of approach within government.
"October is the Cyber Security Awareness month for Public Safety Canada," he said. "Yet, when I speak to other government departments they say they're not involved in that. It would have been phenomenal to have had a much more consistent approach between the private and public sector."
The cyber crime report recommended the government should increase education and put pressure on the higher educational institutions to change their curriculum, according to Alicia Wanless of International Perspectives.
"Canada should at least be trying to adopt more of the international standards and approaches that have been pushed forward," she said in a previous interview with InterGovWorld.com.
In that vein of cyber crime education, Cowper said this month, Microsoft will have a series of events and training sessions for people like the RCMP and law enforcement teams.
"I've been on a number of panels really trying to identify and effectively lock down the definitions we need, and what the real challenges are," said Cowper.
He added that out of those panels has resulted a need for trying to drive greater general awareness.
"For example we have a program called Be Web Aware, an online safety program," said Cowper. "We've been doing a lot of train-the-trainer sessions for police forces across the country, especially in the Toronto area to help them understand what the technology side of cyber crime is, especially online safety with kids."
Awareness and training is also something that the government is doing, according to McLinton.
"The RCMP are working closely with the law enforcement community to develop tools and solutions to combat cyber crime, and have integrated technological crime units across Canada with staff trained, equipped and ready to respond to cyber crime incidents," said McLinton.
He added that the RCMP also talks to the public about what they can do to protect themselves from cyber crime.
"They also work in partnership with the public and private sectors to enhance the safety of the Internet environment internationally, as well," McLinton said.
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