Commission statement on cybercrime
The European Commission will shortly address the security issues associated with electronic commerce by publishing a Communication on cybercrime. Recent hacker attacks on well-known websites such as Yahoo!, amazon.com and CNN.com have created an urgent need to address these problems and protect consumer confidence. The Commission has promised to 'do its utmost to accelerate progress in this field'. The Communication intends to raise awareness of the need for effective security measures to be adopted by service providers. Funding for research into enabling technologies such as encryption devices is being provided under the IST research programme (a part of the EU's Fifth RTD Framework Programme, which is devoted to promoting a User-friendly Information Society). European Commission President Romano Prodi's recent eEurope initiative also served to highlight the importance of security and consumer confidence, and the matter will be discussed at a special summit in Lisbon next month. Coordination on cybercrime between Member States and the United States is already in progress.