THE Isle of Man is looking at the possibility of becoming a worldwide centre of excellence in “cybersecurity” to tackle internet crime and fraud.

It follows the first presentation in a series of seminars on the Island by a new group which plans to establish an Isle of Man-based centre to tackle the issues.

An outline of how to develop a new organisation called the International Centre for Technology (ICT) was given by the Manx Educational Foundation (MEF) at the Sefton Hotel and well attended by the Island’s business community.

Kurt Roosen, Group Head of IT for Duncan Lawrie Private Bank, and executive of the MEF, presented an outline of how the MEF intends to develop the ICT) with the purpose of engaging students, businesses, legislators and enforcement agencies to provide leadership excellence in global issues such as cybersecurity. 

Mr Roosen spoke on the subject of ‘eCrime Leadership Opportunities’ 

One expert at the seminar, David Butterworth of Skanco Business Systems Limited, said that people with cybersecurity skills are in short supply. “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 looked at 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 world’s major governments are now investing heavily in cybersecurity to protect the economy (the UK announcing a £680 million investment only last month) and to enable the benefits of continued growth in web-based industries to be realised.