Austria

[AT] Fight Against Cybercrime Stepped Up

IRIS 2002-6:1/25

Albrecht Haller

IFPI Austria

In mid-April, the national office for the fight against computer and Internet crime, created by the Ministry of the Interior, published its first report. This special unit, established on 1 August 1999, reports to the Abteilung "Zentrale kriminalpolizeiliche Dienste" ("central criminal police services" department), which forms part of the directorate general for public security.

The report shows that the number of attacks by hackers and viruses and cases of computer fraud have risen sharply. In response to this trend, the Minister of the Interior has announced five new measures: the proposed bureau for the fight against IT crime will be created as part of the new federal crime office later this year and equipped with the necessary staff and technology; offices for the fight against computer crime are to University of be set up at Bundesland level; co-operation with industry is to be increased; international co-operation will be Vienna stepped up and greater efforts will be made to raise public awareness of the problem.

In parallel to this, in March the Ministry of Justice tabled a draft 2002 Strafrechtsänderungsgesetz (Act amending criminal law), which lists, inter alia, a whole series of new computer-related criminal offences. The period set by the Ministry of Justice for the submission of opinions on the draft expired on 25 April, so the Government is likely to submit a proposal to Parliament in the near future.