The Met's Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) has released a statement claiming to have saved the UK economy more than £140m in the last six months – well on track for its set targets, they add. Operational activity targeting online criminals has seen the unit deliver "nearly 30% of its £504m harm reduction target" in this initial period.

This figure relates to the amount of money the UK has been prevented from losing through cyber crime and has been arrived at following a number of successful prosecutions and operations by the unit.

The ACPO National e-Crime Programme (NeCP), which is responsible for delivering the policing response to the Cabinet Office's National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP), was allocated £30m earlier this year after cyber security was recognised as one of the biggest threats to the UK.

The funding has been provided by the government over a four-year period to support the development of the Met's Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU), an 85-strong team whose remit is to tackle those responsible for the most serious cyber crime incidents of computer intrusion, distribution of malicious code (malware), denial of service (DDoS) attacks and internet enabled fraud.

In return for the additional funding, the PCeU was set a target of delivering £504m of 'harm reduction' during that four year period; based on a business case which evidenced that for every £1 invested the PCeU would deliver £21 of harm prevention, ie. £1:21 ratio. Based on this calculation, the PCeU has delivered a £1:35 harm reduction ratio in the first six months of existence.

DAC Janet Williams, ACPO eCrime lead for law enforcement said: "In the initial six month period the PCeU, together with its partners in industry and international law enforcement, has excelled in its efforts to meet this substantial commitment and have delivered in excess of £140m of financial harm reduction to the UK economy. We hope to be able to better this result in the future as we expand our national capability."

Detective Superintendent Charlie McMurdie, from the Police Central e-Crime Unit said, "The PCeU continues to take action in its continuing efforts to reduce the harm caused to the UK economy and to UK citizens by those making use of the internet to commit crime. This initial result is only a small sample of the current investigations and interventions being conducted and whilst providing an investment to return ratio of £1: 35, the figure alone does not capture the other important benefits gleaned from the learning obtained from targeting the higher echelon of cyber criminals that we then share with our partners."

Share Story: