European Cybercrime Centre Impresses On Cautious Opening

Brussels saw the opening of the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) today, and has already impressed onlookers, although there were words of caution.

The centre will bring together data and expertise from across Europe, to help with cybercrime investigations within and across borders.

Raj Samani, CTO for McAfee in the UK, was at the event and told TechWeekEurope he was startled by the level of sophistication at the centre.

“I was hugely impressed by not only the technical facilities and the capability of the teams that I met, but also the commitment by the various different parties in coming together to fight cybercrime.”

European Cybercrime Centre goes live

EU commissioner for home affairs Cecilia Malmström was on hand to toast the facility today, saying it was “a good day for Europe”, although did have some words of warning.

“The idea behind the EC3 is to have a forward-thinking centre of highly-skilled personnel – the best brains in Europe,” Malmström said.

“I do however not exclude that more reallocations might be needed from Europol in the future.

“And despite these difficult economic times, I’m optimistic that we will succeed. But let me at the same time say that we should not expect miracles.

“The EU agencies are in general expected to cut staff, not to get more people. So we have to have a long-term perspective on this.”

There was no information on how private sector will be involved in working with the centre, but there will be cross-sector collaboration.

Yet it will be collaborating with organisations outside of the Europe. Troels Oerting, the man who will be in charge of the centre, said it would be working with the FBI and other US agencies, according to EurActiv.

A BBC report showed a Faraday room at the complex. Faraday rooms, named after English scientist Michael Faraday, block out all outside electronic signals, so digital evidence can not be tampered with at the facility.

A number of member states have seconded staff to the European Cybercrime Centre.

“While being ambitious we must also be realistic. The Centre cannot initially focus on all sorts of cybercrime. Fraud, intrusion and Internet related abuse of children are therefore amongst the crimes that will be targeted in the initial phase,” Malmström  added.

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