Police lose National High-Tech Crime Unit website

The police have embarrassingly lost control of the National High-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) website. The NHTCU was folded into the Serious Organised Crime Unit (SOCA) a couple of years ago, but sites such as the BBC still routinely link to the former NHTCU website - such as from this story about 'hacker' Gary McKinnon, which was published in July this year.

It appears the police have let the domain registration lapse, and it has now been picked up by an opportunistic German owner, Uwe Matt.

Security firm Sophos, which discovered the lapse, says the Government has been extremely careless. "Letting the domain name go like this demonstrates a sloppiness on the part of the authorities," says senior technology consultant, Graham Cluley.