Cybercrime Investigation Training and Specialist Education for the European Union

Abstract

The first major piece of malicious software, the Morris worm, hit the Internet in November 1988. Since then the Internet has experienced an explosion of malware and virus attacks affecting individuals and organizations alike. More recently the world has seen concerted efforts by organized criminals to commit IT crimes on a global scale. In order to effectively deal with criminal activities such as identity theft leading to online fraud, law enforcement officers and criminal investigators of today require an entirely new skills set. As cybercrime comes of age the investigators find themselves working in territories without regard to geopolitical and socio-economic boundaries requiring cooperation and collaboration on a scale that has not existed before. The Falcone Programme and AGISprojects have recognized a strong need for collaboration within the European Union member states and have recommended the joint development and certification of training and education for cybercrime investigators and law enforcement officers. This paper reports on the state of these projects and looks at some of the innovative academic partnerships that have been developed to address the issue of Cybercrime Forensic Investigation Training and Specialist Education in the UK, and illustrate the impact that they have on European requirements as outlined by the Bologna Agreement and Europol initiatives.