Only three of 43 police forces able to tackle cybercrime challenges

Just three of the 43 police forces in England and Wales have the skills and strategies to deal with cyber crime issues, according to a new report.
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) warned in its Strategic Policing Requirement report that despite heavy investment and development strategies set by the government, digital issues continue to baffle police.
"Digital technology and the internet are providing criminals new opportunities to commit cybercrime," read the report.
"We expected to find police forces had sought to understand the threat and their role in tackling it. But HMIC found only three forces (Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and West Midlands) had developed comprehensive cybercrime strategies."
The report also highlighted a marked cyber skills shortage within police forces, revealing that only two percent of officers are trained to investigate cybercrime.

The HMIC's finding comes during a wider cyber skills shortage in the UK. The National Audit Office (NAO) warned in February 2013 that the cyber skills gap will last 20 years, costing the nation £27bn a year.

Plugging the gap and improving law enforcement has been an ongoing goal of the UK government's cyber skills strategy. The strategy has seen the government mount several initiatives designed to improve the country's cyber resilience including the creation of the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT).
The HMIC said it expects the initiatives to help rectify the current lack of cyber awareness within the police.
"The fact that forces are not yet able to demonstrate that they understand their roles in tackling this threat of a large-scale cyber incident is fully understood as a problem by the police, the Home Office and the NCA," read the report.
"We found evidence that across these bodies, and wider partners, work is underway to help provide the clarity that is needed for police forces and PCCs [police and crime commissioners] about their roles and the capacity and capability they need to put in place to respond to the threat effectively."
The NCA announced plans to help bolster the UK's cyber expert pool in October 2013 when it pledged to train 400 new cyber intelligence officers over the next year.