Cybercrime officers in the U.K. are leaving the police force to work for cryptocurrency companies primarily exchanges where they can earn double or even triple their salary
According to Bloomberg, skilled cybercrime officers in the United Kingdom are leaving the police force to work for cryptocurrency companies, primarily exchanges, where they can earn double or even triple their salary.
U.K. Cybercrime Officers Leave Faster Than Regular Police Force
Experienced cybercrime officers are leaving much faster than members of the regular police force, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), a body that represents all law enforcement departments in the country, and they are heading to cryptocurrency companies that are headhunting cybercrime experts.
The rate at which the police are losing them is three to four times higher than normal officer turnover.
According to the NPCC, a little more than a dozen experts from the police (or with a background in law enforcement) are currently working for crypto companies. This figure is expected to rise significantly over the next 12-18 months.
According to Andrew Gould, the chief of the NPCC’s cybercrime unit, this is causing a major problem because cybersecurity skills are in high demand right now. In comparison to law enforcement, the private sector can pay them three times as much.
Coinbase, Binance Lure U.K. Cybercrime Officers
Since 2018, government funding has been used to train around 250 cybersecurity experts in how to investigate crimes involving cryptocurrencies, such as hacks.
Large crypto exchanges are now luring them in with astronomically high salaries. Coinbase, Binance, and blockchain sleuth Chainalysis are among them.
Exchanges have been facing increasing hacker threats since 2017-2018, and they are working to adapt to a new type of crypto regulation that is expected to arrive soon. As a result, they require highly qualified digital security experts.
Binance appointed a former official from the UK’s FCA regulator (Financial Conduct Authority) as Director of Regulatory Policy last week.
While the NPCC’s cybercrime chief, Gould, does not prevent digital security experts from leaving for higher salaries, he claims that they cannot afford to lose them after years of training.
