The EU ECENTRE Project

Abstract

Since the EU Cybercrime Convention in 2000 (EU 2001), there has been a clear recognition of the accelerating threats to society posed by those who would exploit computers for crime and the logical progression to cyber-terrorism and cyberwarfare. Since that time the capacity to deal with cybercrime (crimes involving the use of computers) has improved but the problem has grown alarmingly. The European Commission recognises the increasing threat of cybercrime and has committed significant research and development funding in seeking to protect the community from cybercrime and cyberwar. This paper discusses a new European Commission funded project ECENTRE – England's Cybercrime Centre of Excellence Network for Training, Research and Education. On 20th December 2012 the European Commission signed the €0.935million (£760,000) contract for the project. The contract is awarded under the Programme Prevention of and Fight against Internet Crime Targeted Call – ISEC 2011 Action Grants– Project Number HOME/2011/ISEC/AG/INT/4000002226. The author is the Project Manager and Principal Investigator for the project. ECENTRE forms part of a wider European network of centres of excellence to share expertise, promote best practice and provide training opportunities for law enforcement across the EU. The challenges in establishing effecting cooperation and sharing are discussed. The considerable problem of keeping pace with the fast-developing, complex, problem posed by threats to national infrastructure, organisations and individuals is examined; highlighting the role of education as a fundamental weapon in the fight. The more we know about a threat (real or potential) – the better protected against it we become.