Eurojust raises stakes in battle against cybercrime - Hoofdinhoud
The Hague, 26 November 2014
Cybercrime - rising to the challenges of the 21st century was the title of the strategic meeting held at Eurojust’s premises in The Hague on 19 and 20 November.
Cybercrime poses an increasing threat to countries worldwide. Committing cybercrime may either itself be the criminal objective, or may provide the means through which many other forms of crime are facilitated. The various types of cybercrime generate large criminal profits, cause serious harm to victims, including children, and affect critical infrastructure and information systems. Criminals are becoming better organised and more knowledgeable about how to evade detection.
Cybercrime has been ‘Lisbonised’. The Council ranks cybercrime as one of the top nine crime priorities dealt with in the EU policy cycle. Eurojust and Europol will participate in the seventh round of mutual evaluations on cybercrime.
The meeting was chaired by Mr Harri Tiesmaa, National Member for Finland and Chair of the Eurojust Cybercrime Task Force. The President of Eurojust, Ms Michèle Coninsx, President of Eurojust and National Member for Belgium, delivered the opening and closing remarks.
In attendance were more than 40 international judicial and police experts in the field of cybercrime, including representatives from the Council of Europe, Interpol, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), the FBI, CEPOL, ENISA and EEAS, as well as Eurojust College members.
Presentations were made on, the consequences of the Belgian Yahoo judgement, the admissibility of e-evidence under Article 19 of the Budapest Convention, the Dutch Illegal Trade on Online Marketplaces (ITOM) Project, and the complementarity of the roles of Eurojust and EC3.
Workshops dealing with admissibility of e-evidence, trans-border access to data and data retention were held with highly interactive exchanges among the participants.
Operations such as BlackShades and Onymous have proven that a multi-disciplinary approach to this rapidly evolving crime type can lead to successful results. Among the needs identified were:
to establish a new network for exchanging information on judicial issues and best practices in cybercrime investigations and prosecutions;
to involve Eurojust at an early stage in the cybercrime investigation process;
to build trust, offer training and share best practice among cybercrime prosecutors and investigators;
to redefine the concept of territoriality in cyberspace;
to find new legal tools to combat cybercrime, as existing legislation does not always keep pace with rapid developments; and
to establish standards for collection of e-evidence, which is by nature fragile, i.e. easy to modify and destroy, and voluminous.
At the conclusion of the strategic meeting, both Ms Coninsx and Mr Tiesmaa agreed: ‘Cybercrime is a rapidly evolving crime area. Investigators and prosecutors should adapt, respond to and tackle this crime in an efficient and effective way. Eurojust is ready and willing to assist cybercrime prosecutors in their work by facilitating judicial coordination in these cross-border cases. Eurojust can expedite judicial cooperation to ensure admissibility of e-evidence in court and successfully investigate and prosecute cybercriminals. Impunity is not an option’.
Photos: © Eurojust
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