The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) is being set up to fight cybercrime in Europe.One of the new agencys roles will be to educate the public about security problems including viruses and hacker attacks.
Another of its roles will be to act as co-ordinator for investigations throughout Europe into viruses and cyber attacks.
ENISA will be based in Brussels and will start next year with an initial budget of 24.3m euros (£17m).
"Trust and security are crucial components in the information society and by establishing ENISA we continue the work to create the culture of security," said Erkki Liikanen, European Information Society commissioner.As well as co-ordinating investigations by hi-tech crime units in member nations, the agency will gather and disseminate information to businesses on how best they can protect against computer security threats. Invdividuals will be given education on how to avoid having their identity stolen and other useful information about how to avoid becoming a victim of hi-tech criminals.
ENISA will act as a single point of contact to help Europe tackle the problems of cybercrime for the next four years. After that time, the agencys role will be assessed.
