EC plans tougher cybercrime legislation

ISACA has applauded plans for the European Commission to increase the penalties against people committing cybercrime, says Help Net Security.

Under the new EC proposals, according to reports, prison sentences could be increased to five years or more for serious cybercrimes, up from one to three years at present.

"It's likely that the potential rewards from cybercrime are such that current penalties are not going to act as a deterrent,” says Rolf von Roessing, member of the ISACA Security Management Committee.

A group of 38 computer scientists, law professors and security experts is urging Google to do to more to protect Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs from snooping, reports The New York Times.

Specifically, the group is asking Google to use a standard encryption technology, known as HTTPS, that is commonly used by online banks and other Web sites to protect users' data while in transit.

Google already offers HTTPS, which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, as an option in Gmail and other services, but it is disabled by default and few users know about it or bother to turn it on, the group said.

House passage has lobbied legislation clarifying that funding through the Department of Education's 'Enhancing education through technology' (EETT) programme can be spent on Internet safety education for children, states Earth Times.

"We applaud House passage of HR 780 and thank Congressman Adam Putnam for his leadership in sponsoring the legislation," said Web Wise Kids CEO Judi Westberg Warren.

"Although Web Wise Kids has always believed that schools should be encouraged to use the EETT programme to support Internet safety education, this bill provides important clarification that funding under this programme should be used to develop and implement programmes that promote safe Internet use."