Europol – Interpol Cybercrime Conference Makes the Case for Greater Multisector Cooperation

During the 3^rd global cybercrime conference jointly organised by Europol and INTERPOL a variety of pertinent topics related to cybercrime, international law enforcement cooperation and prosecution were presented and discussed. This included threat assessments, cooperation models, legal and practical challenges, training & capacity building initiatives and last but not least, a strong focus on operational results and lessons learnt from those operations, in particular on the 3^rd and last conference day, which was exclusively reserved for law enforcement. The two previous days of the event were open for accredited representatives of the private sector and academia.

The conference, hosted by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, was attended by over 350 cyber specialists from around the world. Some 40 speakers from a variety of backgrounds shared their experiences and discussed opportunities to work even closer together in fighting cybercrime; across jurisdictions as well as across sectors, acknowledging the importance of the pro-active multi-stakeholder cooperation frameworks.

The discussions at this event gave rise to start a number of joint activities driven by INTERPOL and Europol with an open invitation for partners to join. These include:

• The establishment of a Joint Cybercrime Cooperation & Compatibility Taskforce between Europol, INTERPOL, and all interested law enforcement partners from around the world, which will look into the development of a compatibility chart, helping harmonise various legal systems and handling codes for information, in order to create optimal conditions for operational cooperation; 
• The development of a partnership against the abuse of virtual currencies for criminal transactions and money laundering. This will include actions around policy, stimulating operation cooperation and the development and delivery of training to fight the criminal use of virtual currencies, enabling detection, seizure and forfeiture of criminal assets.

Closing the conference, Europol’s Director Rob Wainwright said: "The strong engagement and participation in the third edition of the Europol – INTERPOL Cybercrime Conference shows the importance of cooperation in this modern digital age. Forces from across so many different sectorial boundaries need to come together to fight the cyber threat. Europol and INTERPOL have a crucial role in working together to effectively coordinate that work and provide the best possible services to law enforcement."

The 2016 INTERPOL – Europol Cybercrime Conference will be held at the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation in Singapore. The focus of that event will be on new lawful avenues to conduct investigations against cybercrime and criminal trade on the Darknet with particular emphasis on the attribution of crimes.