Australia prepares to crack down on cybercrime

On Wednesday Australian government announced the legislation to prosecute cybercrime in view of a recent storm of attacks on multinational companies and institutions including governmental websites across the globe.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland said that cybercrime was a growing threat to individuals, businesses and governments with the country's giant resource industry having warned recently of near-daily hacking attempts from offshore.

"The increasing cyber threat means that no nation alone can effectively overcome this problem and international cooperation is essential," McClelland said.

When passed by the parliament the new laws would allow Australian police as well as intelligence agencies to force telecommunications companies to keep sensitive information that was normally stored only briefly before being destroyed.

They also aim to strengthen cooperation with overseas cybercrime agencies, giving police and security agencies better access to information stored overseas when investigating crimes locally committed using the internet.

"Australia must have appropriate arrangements domestically and internationally to be in the best possible position to fight cybercrime and cyber security threats," McClelland said.