Digital criminal investigations in Italy. The intersection between data protection and cybersecurity

Abstract

The scope of digital criminal investigations is rapidly expanding, as they have become indispensable in prosecuting not only cybercrime but all kinds of crimes involving digital evidence. Digital investigations often involve a high degree of intrusiveness, granting law enforcement authorities large-scale access to personal data, programs, and systems. As a result, it is essential to critically assess the legitimacy of digital investigations to prevent potential abuses. When balancing the social need for crime control with the protection of citizens’ rights and interests, we find, on one side of the scale, the public interest of countering and preventing serious crime in a digital world. But which parameters must be incorporated on the other side of the scale? While most attention is given to privacy and data protection in European law to regulate the collection and processing of personal data by law enforcement in criminal proceedings, we propose that another increasingly vital interest needs to be factored in as well: the protection of cybersecurity.