NCA launch high-profile strike against cyber-criminals

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has taken the lead in a concerted attack against alleged cyber-criminals.

Working with its partners in the Metropolitan police, local police forces and Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs), the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit arrested 57 individuals in the week commencing 2 March.  Those targeted were connected with 25 separate operations the length and breadth of the UK, with alleged offences including:

• Network intrusion attacks and data thefts
• Development and distribution of malware
• Phishing
• Cyber-enabled fraud
• Distributed Denial of Service attacks
• Computer Misuse Act offences

The initiative attracted widespread media attention, countering the widely-held impression that UK law enforcement agencies have neither the resources nor the expertise to tackle such offending.  Whether these arrests results in charges and convictions, of course, remains to be seen.