Asian Patrol For World Wide Web

It has built one of Asia's first round-the-clock centres to monitor cyber threats, such as viruses targeting government websites. Now, Singapore will lead a new regional initiative against cyber crime.

The aim is to create a community of cyber-crime experts in the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean), said Police Commissioner Khoo Boon Hui at the close of the Asean Chiefs of Police (Aseanapol) conference at Shangri-La Hotel yesterday.

Cyber crime generally refers to criminal activities carried out through the computer system. This includes not just sending spam emails and hacking websites, but also using the Internet to commit espionage and fraud, as well as scouring for sexual victims.

The new framework adopted by the 10 Asean police chiefs after three days of discussion will be implemented in three stages over six years.

The first stage — to be implemented in the next three years — will include courses and training, study visits and an in-depth look at laws and policies relating to cyber crime. It will involve officials in existing cyber-crime units in each member country.

The following two years will focus on improving investigation techniques and how information on cyber crime is being shared.

In the last, year-long stage, trainees will learn strategies to counter cyber criminals and explore collaborations with parties outside police forces.

But capacity building is not the only focus of this new initiative.

Asean police forces will also look into improving communication between law enforcement agencies dealing with cyber-crime cases, because "speed is essential", said Senior Assistant Commissioner Ang Hak Seng, deputy director of planning and organisation for the Singapore Police Force.

Commissioner Khoo added: "The officers in the cyber-crime unit in each country will be able to freely exchange views, best practices and quickly learn from each other."

Mr Aloysius Cheang, president of local infocomm security association SIG2, suggested that such a regional framework must also examine cross-border legal issues. He said: "Singapore has cyber-crime laws like the Anti-Spam Act and the Computer Misuse Act. But if someone sends me a spam email from Indonesia, how will this person be implicated?"

Cyber threats have become a global security concern. Attacks on computers across the world increased by 29 per cent in the latter half of last year, according to a report published by Internet security agency Symantec.

Last month, the European state of Estonia suffered major cyber attacks to its government, news, banks and communication websites.

Meanwhile, Singapore and Interpol will host a conference on Asian-organised crime to be held in the Republic early next year.