News item | 10-10-2016
The Interpol-Europol Cybercrime Conference that took place from 28 – 30 September brought together representatives from 56 countries in Singapore. Wouter Veenstra of the GFCE Secretariat participated in a panel discussion about effective capacity building to combat cybercrime. Other participants included Neil Walsh from the UNODC (GFCE Partner), Mr. Madan Oberoi from Interpol and Philip Victor from (ISC)2. Europol is a member to the GFCE.
Capacity building: bottom up and top down
The panel discussion focused on the question how to effectively build national capacity to address the threat of cybercrime. First of all it was concluded that fighting cybercrime can only be successful if it is part of a broader effort to make society more resilient to cyber threats. This includes awareness raising of the general public, having a national cyber security strategy and legal frameworks in place. It also requires the buildup of cyber expertise in in law enforcement and forensics. An effective approach towards cybercrime requires both experts with the right knowledge (bottom up) and at the same time acknowledgement of the problem at a political level and the vision to solve it (top down).
Training programs are key in order to recruit and retain experienced law enforcement staff to address cybercrime. Interpol and Europol has developed such trainings and workshop for its members. In the GFCE Initiative ‘Preventing and Combating Cybercrime in Southeast Asia’ UNDP, US, Japan and Australia work together on a cybercrime training program for prosecutors, investigators, judges and judicial staff in South East Asia. The lack of available financial resources is still a major hurdle for many countries and/or intergovernmental organizations to effectively address cybercrime.
