Let cyber crime centre be a start, says MEP

The centre, called EC3, will work alongside national police forces by acting as an alert system and assisting with details on trends and potential threats, using information from across the Europe and further afield.

Mr Kirkhope said: “EC3 is a welcome step forward in preventing fraud and piracy, combating child abuse and protecting against terrorism and attacks on infrastructure.

“However, I hope this is just the beginning of a better co-ordinated European and international approach to combating cyber crime.

“When an individual can launch an attack from a computer in a room in one country and bring down an entire banking network on the other side of the world, then surely common sense dictates that no country can tackle this problem alone.”

The internet is worth £100bn to the British economy – more than seven per cent of national income and Yorkshire and the Humber boasts one of three regional e-crime hubs in the UK, launched in 2012.

To meet the threat of internet crime, the government granted £30m over four years to improve national capability to investigate and combat cyber crime.

The three new units work alongside the Metropolitan Police Centre e-crime Unit.