Conference on the Strengthening International Law Enforcement Cooperation to Prosecute Cyber Criminals, Hackers, and Virus Authors
APEC e-Security Task Group presented a conference from 21 - 25 July designed to strengthen the ability of economies around the region to combat cybercrime.
Attended by over 120 delegates from 17 economies, the conference was organized by the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the United States Department of Justice and hosted by Thailand?s National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, National Science and Technology Agency. The project was jointly funded by the United States and APEC in response to the APEC Leaders commitment last October to endeavor to enact comprehensive legal frameworks to combat cybercrime and to develop law enforcement units capable of investigating cybercrime.
John Malcolm, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, United States Department of Justice welcomed APEC?s commitment to enhancing cybersecurity. "Cybercrime is not confined by borders, and cyber criminals can exploit differences in laws that exist between different economies," Mr. Malcolm said.
"International law enforcement cooperation is vital to protect people and businesses from the new dangers that are apparent in the modern interconnected world.
"It is essential for the economic development and security of the region for all economies to work together to implement measures to investigate, capture and prosecute cyber criminals."
The conference had three primary objectives:
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Assisting economies to develop legal frameworks necessary for to combat computer crime;
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Promoting the development of law enforcement investigative units with the training and equipment needed to investigate and deter computer crime;
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Enhance understanding and cooperation between industry and law enforcement in order to better address the threat of computer crime.
The conference achieved these goals by valuable presentations from a number of experts from across the region and by the exchange of views and experience by delegates. The experts agreed that:
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All economies need to have a comprehensive legal framework to combat cybercrime that includes
a. substantive laws that criminalize conduct such as unauthorized access to a computer system and causing damage to computer systems;
b. procedural laws that allow law enforcement authorities to collect electronic evidence; and
c. laws and policies that allow economies to cooperate with each other in investigating and prosecuting cybercrime. -
International instruments, in particular the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention (2001), provide valuable models for improving domestic laws.
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Cooperation between jurisdictions is critical to solving cybercrime cases. Authorities need to seek ways to improve the speed of international cooperation in cybercrime investigations, such as by joining the 24/7 network and by improving the speed of their assistance to foreign investigators.
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An important factor in enforcing cybercrime laws is the development of law enforcement investigative units devoted to cybercrime investigations.
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Investigators that comprise computer crime units need to have adequate training and equipment.
"The conference has provided an important step forward in addressing the problem of cybercrime in the region," said Richard W. Downing, the conference Chair and senior counsel at the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, United States Department of Justice.
"Cooperation between jurisdictions is critical to deterring cybercrime, and conferences such as this are critical to developing the basis for that cooperation."