The City of London is set to be the location for a formidable new court specifically targeting cybercrime and fraud, replacing some other existing courts.
Focussing on these areas of critical importance, the new facility is planned to be situated near Fleet Street, and will feature 18 courtrooms.
The move is backed by HM Courts and Tribunal Services, the City of London Corporation, and the Ministry of Justice.
To facilitate this new initiative, the City of London Magistrates’ Court and the Mayor’s and the City of London court are to be closed, marking major sacrifices to make way for the new court.
In addition to applying a concentrated effort to tackling cybercrime and fraud, the plan is also intended to modernise processes, moving toward digitisation and away from arduous, paper-based methods.
Raj Samani, Chief Scientist and Fellow at McAfee, said: “Cybercrime and fraud are a massive blight on the British economy, costing nearly £11bn in 2015/16. The growth of cybercrime as-a-service allows anybody regardless of technical capability to engage in this growing market, and subsequently mean that the cost of cybercrime is likely to continue to rise in the near future.”
Content from our partners
SonicWall CEO: Putting malware cocktails on the menu with machine learning
Russian hackers allegedly steal NSA programs via Kaspersky vulnerability
Over HALF of business leaders unaware of data location
Cybercrime is now truly organised crime and big business, with providers of pre-packaged ransomware offering 24/7 support services to those trying to launch the dangerous cyberattacks they have purchased. This also means that it is not just the technical skilled creators that must brought to justice, as unskilled people are now also using leveraging the destructive power of cyber.
“It is important that the government takes the necessary steps to not only educate businesses on these threats and how to defend against them, but also ensures that the police have the skills and resources to investigate online crimes, and that the Crown has the expertise to prosecute these actors. The new investment in the court complex for cybercrime and fraud cases will ensure concentrated expertise to support the prosecution of online offences and position the UK as a global leader in the crackdown on cybercrime and making the UK the safest place to do business,” said Samani.
