Crime and Security in Cyberspace

As we have become dependent on the internet, as the ‘network of networks’, so we have become vulnerable to criminal and terrorist networks that use cyberspace as a means to undermine and circumvent state control. Protecting against those that wish to attack the integrity, confidentiality and availability of systems, and the data they process, is primarily an issue of implementing appropriate security measures. But how do governments react to such threats against social and economic stability? This article examines recent inter-governmental harmonisation initiatives addressing the suitability of the criminal code, the adequacy of law enforcement powers to investigate cyberspace activities and the need for greater transnational co-operation. Such reforms challenge some traditional conceptions of state control and authority and can be seen as threatening existing rights and interests.