Around one in four criminals use false identities, with identity theft being both a means of masking the criminal’s own identity — and therefore evading detection — as well as a vehicle for committing further fraud at a later date.

Detection and identification are as important as legislation in providing a means for minimising the problem. The law, of itself, will never thoroughly address the problem: it will just become one tier in a system of digital governance.

Although computer crime is seen as a 21st century phenomenon that encompasses activities such as web pornography, identity fraud and phishing — the creation of bogus websites that appear legitimate which then ask for bank and other personal details, electronic crime goes back around 50 years.

One such example is hacking, which started out as a pastime of computer programmers as early as the 1960s — stimulated by the intellectual challenge of breaking into systems or accessing data without authorisation — and which now has the potential to disrupt the hugely expensive computer systems of large multi-nationals. Another is viruses, which, despite being around for 30 years, can have widespread and often devastating impact on individuals and organisations’ operations when used maliciously.

Computer crime has evolved from a niche set of practitioners with a specific goal, including the odd disgruntled employee who wanted to upset their employers’ systems, to a sophisticated and often highly complex operation, with layers of authority. In belonging to semi-structured networks which they use to share advice, resources and expertise within a particular specialism, many identity fraudsters are linked in with organised crime.

The history of computer crime teaches us that what started out as a ‘game’ or a challenge that actually helped the development of computer programmes has actually, over time, evolved into something much more sinister in the wrong hands.

Nowadays the IT professional is regarded as the ‘guardian’ of their company or organisation because of the role they have in protecting it against outside cyber attacks — a task which brings them on a par with accountants and lawyers in terms of responsibility.