Increased funding will almost double e-crime fighting capabilities for the Australian Federal Police (AFP) over the next four years with funds boosting staffing levels and its computer forensics team.
Last week the Federal Government allocated $24.7 million in the Budget to improve e-security; National Office for Information Economy (NOIE) e-security policy manager Catherine Higgins said more than $6 million will go to the AFP to employ six staff for its computer forensics team.
Higgins, at the AusCert 2002 conference on Queensland's Gold Coast, said more than $6 million has also been allocated to the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) to substantially increase staffing levels and capabilities.
"The funds will go towards staff rather than projects," she said. This is in addition to $11 million being made available to the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence to upgrade its intelligence database system, allowing information to be easily analysed again the Australian Criminal Intelligience Database.