Identifying cybercriminals at core of INTERPOL-Europol conference

Under the theme of Solutions for Attribution, some 200 delegates from 56 countries are sharing best practices and identifying ways to overcome technical, operational and strategic hurdles faced by law enforcement when investigating cybercrime and cyber-enabled crimes ranging from financial crime, terror-related activities and child sexual abuse.

Topics such as ransomware and bulletproof hosting will also top the conference agenda.

In his opening remarks, Noboru Nakatani, Executive Director of the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI), highlighted the importance of a collaborative approach across sectors to tackle complex cybercrime investigations.

"A safer cyberspace can only be achieved by closing the information gap between law enforcement agencies, and likewise between the public and private sectors," said Mr. Nakatani.

"By sharing information, we can close in on the criminal networks, and essentially lock them in. This will enable law enforcement agencies, who are the only agencies with the mandate to act on the ground, to identify and dismantle transnational criminal organizations," added the IGCI's Executive Director.

In this respect, following Davos 2016 both INTERPOL and Europol have been working closely with the World Economic Forum on its recommendations for public-private sector partnerships against cybercrime.

"Cybercrime remains a real and innovative threat. It evolves over the years and so does the cooperation between Europol and INTERPOL to look at ways of combating the criminals together", commented Steven Wilson, Head of the European Cybercrime Centre at Europol. "The joint Cybercrime Conference is a yearly milestone to share best practices, operational successes and build up relationships. It’s the perfect arena to provide tangible results in the fight against cybercrime at EU level and beyond. We look back to learn the most pressing threats and trends, and then forward to identify how to keep citizens, business and governments protected."

Europol and INTERPOL working together on Global Airline Action Day with other key partners led to the arrest of 140 persons involved in fraudulent purchase of airline tickets worldwide across 74 airlines, 130 airports and 43 countries. These initial crimes have also uncovered links to more serious criminality, such as drug trafficking, human trafficking and terrorism.

Together with its partners, Europol’s coordinated efforts in the fight against online sexual exploitation and victimisation of children have also yielded significant results. As a result of the Second Victim Identification Task Force hosted at Europol in April this year, 250 sequences of child sexual abuse images and video files have been uploaded to INTERPOL International Child Sexual Exploitation database and additions made to more than 300 existing sequences. In addition Europol has distributed intelligence packages to a number of countries to assist in the identification of victims.

The INTERPOL-Europol Cybercrime Conference is a joint initiative launched in 2013. Held annually, it is hosted alternatively by Europol and INTERPOL.