There's nothing to suggest that internet safety has nose-dived in the 18 months between the two reports, but it may be that the Home Affairs Committee heard more worrying evidence about the response of the authorities to e-crime.
Perhaps the Home Affairs MPs also hoped that their vivid use of language ("war" and "black hole") would prompt ministers into action.
The message has certainly been sent - though more analysis and less hyperbole might yield better results.
Publishing its first report on the subject, the cross-party committee said e-crime took various forms, did not recognise national borders and could be committed "at almost any time or in any place".
'Off the hook'
It called for a dedicated cyber-espionage team to respond to attacks, many of which are believed to be backed by foreign governments because they are so sophisticated.
Offences range from attacks on computer networks and the use of viruses to steal data to the use of cyberspace to facilitate traditional crimes such as forgery, sabotage, drug smuggling and people trafficking.
The committee said it was worried by the evidence it had heard during its inquiry about the UK's e-crime fighting capability.
It said it had been told by Adrian Leppard, deputy assistant commissioner at the City of London Police, that up to a quarter of the UK's 800 specialist internet crime officers could be lost due to budget cuts.
This was despite evidence the UK was a prime target for many of the 1,300 criminal gangs specialising in fraud.
A quarter of the gangs, many of which are based in eastern Europe and Russia, use the internet as their principal means of deception.
The MPs said police cutbacks came on top of proposed 10% cuts to the budget of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop).
"At a time when fraud and e-crime is going up, the capability of the country to address it is going down," the report concluded.
"Ministers have acknowledged the increasing threat of e-crime but it is clear that sufficient funding and resources have not been allocated to the law enforcement responsible for tackling it."
As well as calling for a cyber-espionage team, the report's recommendations include:
- Requiring banks to report all e-fraud, however small, to the police
- Obliging web firms to explain data security tools to new users
- Prosecutors to review sentencing guidance for e-crimes
- Increased funding for European e-crime co-operation
- Mandatory code of conduct for removal of indecent material
- New body to report on and remove online terrorist content
- Keith Vaz, the Labour MP who chairs the committee, said the UK's response to e-crime was too "fractured".
Keith Vaz, MP: "This is a more serious threat than a nuclear attack"
He added: "It's much easier and more lucrative to steal on the internet than it is to go out and rob a bank.
"These are real e-wars. At the moment we are not winning the e-wars."
Mr Vaz said the gangs committing e-crimes were "predominantly" from eastern Europe, including European Union countries such as Romania.
The UK's eavesdropping centre GCHQ suggested earlier this year that 80% of cyber-attacks could be prevented by better management of information online.
The Police Federation of England and Wales said the MPs' report was further evidence that recent figures showing a 10% fall in recorded crime last year were "misleading".
Javed Khan, chief executive of the charity Victim Support, called the findings "worrying", adding: "E-criminals cannot be allowed to get ahead of our police and their partners."
The government announced increased funding for cyber-security in 2010, while a single National Cybercrime Unit will be formed later this year as part of the new National Crime Agency.
Deputy Chief Constable Peter Goodman, who speaks for the Association of Chief Police officers on e-crime, said the new unit would bring a "real step change in our response to e-crime".
A Home Office spokesman said: "Crime is at record low levels and this government is taking action to tackle the cyber-threat, investing more than £850m through the national cyber-security programme to develop and maintain cutting-edge capabilities."
He said the new cybercrime unit would "target the most serious offenders and provide enhanced intelligence for Ceop so they can protect even more children from harm".
"But we know we need to keep pace with criminals as they target the web and so we continue to consider ways to ensure the police and security services have access to communications data," the spokesman added.
Tero Pollanen is a former Financial Crime Consultant who has in the past worked with major financial institutions and banks.
Source BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23495121
