Cyber-crime is the world's biggest growth industry and is now costing an estimated $220 billion loss to companies and individuals every year, according to Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur.

On Thursday 20 April, leading experts in internet security from all over the world gathered at the University of East London’s (UEL) Docklands Campus for the 2nd International Conference on Global E-Security (ICGeS).

Tarique Ghaffur CBE, who is in charge of tackling serious and orgainsed crime in London, told delegates: “Increasing numbers of real people are being seriously affected by e-crime. It’s definitely not just banks and insurance companies being ripped off – private individuals are being conned out of thousands of hard-earned pounds every single day.

“It’s an extremely complex situation and we at the Metropolitan Police are taking a holistic approach in terms of gathering information and mapping out and dismantling criminal networks.”

The International Conference on Global E-Security was set up in 2005 to establish dialogue between crime-fighting agencies, the security industry, researchers and experts, and to create a platform from which e-security can be examined from several global perspectives.

Other keynote speakers included Professor Fred Piper, Director of Royal Holloway University of London’s Information Security Group, Hacker turned security expert Pete Herzog and Cllr Richard Barnes of the London Assembly and Metropolitan Police Authority.

Cllr Barnes, who chaired the public enquiry into last year’s London bombings, said: “E-crime, or ‘cyber-crime’, is one of the fastest growing criminal activities around the globe, whether it be in the form of fraud, hate crime, extremism, child pornography, or terrorism. If a teenage hacker can penetrate the Pentagon system, I personally can’t believe that terrorists have never considered it.

“I’m no technician nor policeman, but what I am is a very proud Londoner who strongly believes in our joint responsibility to keep London as safe a city as possible, and that means protecting ourselves from the growing dangers of e-crime.”

The conference was organised and chaired by Dr Hamid Jahankhani, Senior Lecturer at UEL’s School of Computing and Technology, who said: “We at the university of East London are very proud to be hosting this conference and gathering together so many leading colleagues from within academia, industry and the public services. Working together, we can do our best to combat a major problem that is currently very much in the public eye.”

The conference continues today and Saturday. For full details contact Dr Hamid Jahankhani on 020 8223 2071, email , or visit http://www.uel.ac.uk/icges.

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The University of East London (UEL) is now rated London’s leading modern (post-1992) university, and among the top five modern universities in the UK, according to the Guardian University Guide 2005/06. UEL is a global learning community, with 19,500 students from over 100 countries world-wide.

Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of our diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry. http://www.uel.ac.uk