5 years ago: NCIS outlines the danger of cybercrime

22.06.99 The National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), the UK's international crime investigators, yesterday became the latest law enforcement agency to release a report on the threat of computer crime.

In the wake of Monday's warning by the Crown Prosecution Service, NCIS has published the Trawler Report. This insight into the increase in computer crime is expected to be used as a consultation document for worldwide crimebusting.

The survey, sponsored by Novell, identified three burgeoning criminal activities - hacking, virus spreading and communications manipulation.

22.06.04 Clearly the threat of cybercrime hasn't disappeared or even decreased during the past five years. However, it is interesting to see from which direction some of the keenest minds in law enforcement saw problems emerging.

Today, some of the biggest areas of concern include scams looking to hook the gullible, organised gangs involved in ID theft and spam with worrying payloads - hardly a big problem back in 1999.

At least now it's encouraging to see NCIS lead the way on education and cracking down on some of the most serious crimes.