Money
Getting the best deal
Internet security: Lords call for more protection for web users
A House of Lords select committee has called on the Government and technology service providers to take urgent measures to protect internet users against crime
Users should not be expected to take full responsibility for web security as they will "always be outfoxed", the Lords Science and Technology Committee said in its report on personal internet security.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Lord Broers, Chair of the House of Lords Science and Technology sub-committee, branded the internet "a playground for criminals".
He said that the organisations profiting from internet services, "including the IT industry, banks and internet traders, should take a share of responsibility when it came to security breaches."
Lord Broers called upon the Government to create a central unit for dealing with e-crime incidents and urged ministers to invest in a data security breach notification.
Security vendors, such as McAfee and Kapersky, while welcoming the broad recommendations, expressed concern about the liability issue, which they said would be "difficult to uphold".
However, George Gardiner at Gardiner Law disagreed and said this could be easily done if all parties "built an industry group instead of arguing over which policy was better."
He showed more leniency for the Government, which he said would find it "impossible to monitor whether security firms were upholding their responsibility".
* The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not held by Saga unless specifically stated. The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal, medical or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Always obtain independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.
