If the amount of information available on software piracy and fraud in Iceland is indicative of the level of abuse in this areas, then it is safe to say that these are not primary concerns in the country. Iceland has a very honest society. The fraud rate stands at a mere 0.0003 percent of all transactions, against a world average of 0.07 percent. Even in France, which has one of the lowest fraud rates in the world – thanks to its early introduction of chip-based smart cards, the rate is 0.02 percent. In addition, the GSM technology used in Iceland is less prone to fraud than other mobile services. Iceland is a member of ICANN, however it does not appear to be a very active member, because information on the country is not prevalent on the ICANN website. Despite the low occurrence of fraud in the country, Iceland is still seeking out new measures of better securing technology by fighting cybercrime and introducing the wide-scale use of smart cards.
 

Mobile Phone Fraud

Prevention of mobile phone fraud is a bigger concern in the U.S. than in Iceland, because the analog phone technology used in the U.S. can be an open invitation for cloners. The Digital GSM technology used throughout Iceland and the rest of Europe is more robust than analog. Nevertheless, GSM service providers are somewhat vulnerable to people who use airtime with no intention of paying for it. They simply move on to the next network and/or change their identities when their service is removed. Extensive background checks on new customers are often impractical in other countries. Iceland has an advantage in this sense because the country has on-line links to a government registry of householders that providers can access. However, data protection regulations and consumer pressure in many other countries rule out this level of investigation. This becomes a problem for many service providers in Europe, because if they can not give customers near-instant connection, they risk losing business. So some providers who have invested heavily in GSM networks have a high exposure to risk, because they cannot easily check whether the customers they are signing up are genuine. 
 

Cybercrime and Smart Card Initiatives

Iceland is working closely with the European Union to improve overall security of on-line transactions as well as develop common specifications for smart-cards interoperability and security across Europe. The following represents a timeline of planned initiatives.

By the end of 2001

• Ensuring the availability of products (in particular network cards, software and routers) capable of supporting secure transmissions based on IPSec and IPv6 
• Supporting industry-led security certifications through co-ordination of efforts and mutual recognition, including information security professional certification. 
• Promoting privacy-enhancing technologies and supporting their deployment, including proper codes and the consolidation of practice. 
• Stimulating public/private co-operation on dependability of information infrastructures (including the development of early warning systems) and improve co-operation amongst national 'computer emergency response teams'. 
• Improve human interface of secure card terminals including better usability for people with special needs and support for multiple languages.19

• Promote the development and deployment of open source software security platforms for effective "plug and play".
• Develop a co-ordinated European approach to cybercrime
• Availability of cost-effective smart card solutions to enable secure electronic transactions.19