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EU encourage Police to hack more

The Home Office has signed up to an EU strategy against cybercrime that "encourages" police across Europe to remotely access personal computers.

The plan has sparked fears that the government is looking to increase police powers to hack into people's computers without a court warrant. UK police already do a "small number" of such operations under existing law.

The plan, drawn up by the Council of the European Union, makes broad statements on how to improve European cyber crime-fighting, including inviting countries to introduce remote searches if they are already provided for under national law.

British law already allows police to remotely access computers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, which allows surveillance to "prevent or detect serious crime".

Most anti-virus programs and firewalls will detect surveillance attempts because they are designed to stop the remote access software or Trojan-type viruses that hackers use.

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