Need global cooperation to tackle cyber crime: US expert

A US cyber security expert on Thursday called for cooperation among nations to combat cyber crimes but said drafting a universal law that has a global acceptance was difficult.

Melissa Hathaway, who has in the past been in the team of two US presidents -- George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- met start-ups and interacted with students at Jadavpur University.

"I believe it will be very difficult to get a common view of the (cyber security) law across 196 countries, because there are different approaches, cultures, history on how we think about freedom of speech, the right to privacy and freedom and security," said Hathaway, owner of cyber security consultancy firm Hathaway Global Strategies.

Hathaway said that in India, people were okay with service providers having access to information, but resent governmental access to the data.

In contrast, people in Europe disliked it if the corporations had access to the information in cyber space.

Referring to the recent controversy over the encryption policy in India, she said every country was working on it, but none of them should demand that the technology is weakened.

She also held parleys with police officers dealing with cyber crime.

The expert said that while cyber crimes were taking place at a great pace, international cooperation was slow.

She said that when the data shifts to another country, the investigators have to seek assistance from that nation for collecting evidence and tackling crimes.