‘Cyber Policing’ gets straight to the heart of the cybersecurity challenge: Detecting and preventing cybercriminals.
Governments face increasing cyber threats that can compromise national security and critical infrastructure.
To combat these threats effectively, a robust cybersecurity strategy is essential. One crucial component of this strategy is ‘Cyber Policing,’ which plays a vital role in safeguarding government systems and data.
The Role of Cyber Policing in Government Cybersecurity
Cyber Policing involves the enforcement of cybersecurity laws and regulations to prevent, detect, and respond to cybercrimes. It encompasses activities such as investigating cyber incidents, apprehending cybercriminals, and collaborating with other law enforcement agencies and cybersecurity experts.
Within the broader cybersecurity framework of governments, Cyber Policing serves several critical functions:
- Preventing Cyber Attacks: Cyber Police units work proactively to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities in government networks and systems. By conducting risk assessments and implementing security measures, they aim to prevent cyber attacks before they occur.
- Investigating Cyber Incidents: When a cyber incident occurs, Cyber Police teams play a key role in investigating the incident, identifying the perpetrators, and gathering evidence for prosecution. Their expertise in digital forensics is crucial in determining the extent of the breach and mitigating its impact.
- Collaborating with Other Agencies: Cyber crime knows no borders, and international cooperation is crucial in the fight against it. Cyber Policing units collaborate with other government agencies, such as intelligence services and cybersecurity agencies, to share information and coordinate responses to cyber threats. This collaboration enhances the overall cybersecurity posture of the government.
- Enforcing Cybersecurity Laws: Cyber Police enforce cybersecurity laws and regulations to hold cybercriminals accountable for their actions. By prosecuting offenders and imposing penalties, they deter future cybercrimes and promote a safer online environment.
- Building Cyber Awareness: Cyber Policing units also play a role in educating government employees and the public about cybersecurity best practices. By raising awareness about cyber threats and promoting good cyber hygiene, they help prevent security incidents.
Effective Cyber Policing is essential for ensuring national security in the digital age. By proactively addressing cyber threats and responding swiftly to incidents, Cyber Police units contribute to the resilience of government systems and critical infrastructure. Their efforts help protect sensitive information, maintain public trust, and safeguard the nation’s interests in cyberspace.
Strategy and Capabilities
The NPCC have published a National Policing Strategy, to enhance digital capabilities within law enforcement agencies. This strategy aims to modernize policing practices, improve efficiency, and effectively combat cybercrime. As the APCCS describes this strategy sets out a new digital ambition for UK policing.
Furthermore the NPCC has outlined plans for a cyber support function and a catalogue of solutions for police forces. They are included within a newly published National Policing Cyber Security Strategy, developed in collaboration with the Police Digital Service (PDS) as a programme of work aimed at increasing cyber resilience in policing.
These specialist initiatives can be seen within the context of an overall digital transformation strategy for police forces, such as Police Scotland who recently published their Digital Strategy.
This highlights that like every enterprise they address the full range of IT needs for their organizations, with cybersecurity being one of these capabilities, and then furthermore they must specialize in the very specific expertise of cybercrime policing.
There are also digital innovations that support the whole ecosystem of policing and prosecution. For example in Scotland they are rolling out a Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) platform, which handles evidence including CCTV footage, photographs, as well as data and other materials from computers and mobile devices. It’s to be expanded to include documents and recordings of police interviews.
Featured Vendor: Cyacomb
As part of this series we’ll showcase vendors pioneering innovations that can play a major role in advancing these capabilities, such as Edinburgh-based Cyacomb.
Their unique tools help social media, cloud companies, and encrypted messaging apps block harmful content, and law enforcement catch and monitor paedophiles and terrorists, enabling law enforcement to scan devices for known child abuse or terrorist content up to 100x faster than traditional methods.
