Detectives affirm many websites intended for employ to commit fraud are using imagery of Olympics to lure customersDetectives from the UK’s leading cyber crime unit have identified hundreds of websites that could be used to dupe visitors to following year’s London Olympics.They have already closed encircling 2,000 sites locate up by criminals and purporting to sell luxury goods, and are monitoring hundreds of others that have popped up on the web with the games in intellect.Some are using the event’s signature image of five Olympic rings, which could lead human beings to believe they have official endorsement.”We reckon there is some evidence to suggest they are waiting to commit fraud,” Janet Williams, the deputy assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan police, said. “These websites have been locate up and are in a holding position, and we will monitor them to see if they are used for criminal purposes.”Williams, the head of the e-crime unit, said ticket fraud was just one path criminals would try to exploit the games.”We would be naive to reckon that it would be the only threat during the Olympics,” she told the Twitter. Her unit, which has a staff of 106, is working with other agencies, including the administration communications headquarters GCHQ, to intercept traffic that might mark to an attack on London’s infrastructure. Attempts to cause disruption through “denial of supply” attacks have become a common tactic for hackers.”The issues we are plotting encircling comprehend a [imaginable] attack on the transport system … however we have to be flexible. During the plotting for the common election, we looked at all the potential things that could happen, and went through a range of contingencies. However nobody thought about a volcano erupting in Iceland.” The Met itself has come under cyber-attack, and Williams said the energy had immediately beefed up security encircling its computers.The Olympics is one area being overseen by the e-crime unit, which has been expanding to try to meet the huge scale of online crime. It is setting up three satellite hubs covering the north-west, Yorkshire and Humberside and the east Midlands, and estimates that in six months this year its virtual taskforce prevented crimes that would have otherwise cost £140m.The unit also prevented a cyber attack on the Clarence House website. The plotted attack had been designed to stop a live video screening of the royal wedding in April.”It will be a huge step up for us to have a regional capability,” Williams said. “There will be a small number of human beings in each hub, and for major events, like the Olympics, we will employment together.”She said there is some evidence that “ancient college” crime organisations are moving into the cybersphere. While these groups will attempt to operate across international boundaries, many are based in the UK.”They are learning quick and developing their capabilities quick,” she said. “When we first approached this we wondered whether we would be looking at criminals in other countries … we are looking at criminals here in the UK.”CybercrimeComputingCrimeOlympic Games 2012Nick Hopkinsguardian.co.uk © 2011 Twitter News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Employ of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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