The world needs to establish an "InternetPol" to prosecute cybercriminals, as shown by inconsistent and unsatisfactory results in several recent court cases.
So says Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure's Chief Research Officer. According to Hypponen, local police authorities rarely have the resources to uncover the full extent of cybercriminals' activities.
And the world needs to update its legislation to keep up with the technology, or else bringing cybercriminals to justice will continue to be a remarkably difficult exercise.
For example, prolific spammer Jeremy Jaynes recently had his conviction overturned by the Virginia Supreme Court.
The court ruled the Anti-Spam Act under which Jaynes was charged violated the First Amendment to the US constitution, which provides for freedom of speech.
Yet the same court upheld the very same act just six months ago.
In another example, 18 year-old New Zealander Owen Thor Walker has avoided a prison sentence.
Known online as the 'botmaster king', Walker plead guilty to authoring banking trojans that defrauded approximately $15.4 million.
Walker was merely ordered to pay around $10,800 in damages, and is now reportedly being wooed by a number of major computer companies.
""The Internet has no borders and online crime is almost always international, yet local police authorities often have limited resources for investigations," Hypponen says.
"We should consider the creation of an online version of Interpol - "˜Internetpol' - that is specifically tasked with targeting and investigating the top of the crimeware food chain."