The Manx Educational Foundation (MEF) was proud to present the first of its Seminar Series: ‘eCrime Leadership Opportunities’ on Wednesday 16th November 2011at the Sefton Hotel in Douglas. Kurt Roosen, Group Head of IT for Duncan Lawrie Private Bank and Executive of the Manx Educational Foundation (MEF) presented an outline of how the MEF intends to develop The International Centre for Technology (ICT). The purpose of the ICT is to engage students, businesses, legislators and enforcement agencies to provide leadership excellence in global issues such as Cybersecurity. The event was well attended by industry participants, David Butterworth of Skanco Business Systems Limited commented; “People with Cybersecurity skills are in short supply and the Isle of Man has the opportunity to address that gap, to the benefit of the local marketplace, the UK and the rest of the world. The intention with the ICT is to pull the Cybersecurity community together to generate research, collaborative partnerships and education.” ‘Fighting Cybercrime and eFraud’ was presented by Stuart Hyde, Deputy Chief Constable of Cumbria Constabulary, President of the Society for the Policing of Cybercrime and National Lead for Student Crime Reduction, eCrime Prevention, and the National Fraud Reporting Centre. His talk was enlightening, in particular regarding the usefulness of social media in fighting crime. The MEF also introduced ‘The ICT: Potential to be a leading centre in Cybersecurity’ by Ken Rabey, Director of the National eCrime Prevention Centre and Head of Department (Informatics), School of Technology, University of Wolverhampton. Ken described the developments in Cybercrime prevention over the last 7 years leading to a realisation by International Governments that something needs to be done. The major governments are now investing heavily in Cybersecurity to protect the economy (the UK announcing a ?680m investment only last month) and to enable the benefits of continued growth in web-based industries to be realised. ENDS