Common Approach to Combating Criminal Activities on the Darkweb – CEPOL 24/2017

Common Approach to Combating Criminal Activities on the Darkweb – CEPOL 24/2017

The Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Directorate General for Human Resources Management, organized the CEPOL course 24/2017 “TOR and Darknet –Trafficking from Law Enforcement Perspective”, between 19 – 23 June 2017, at Ambasador Hotel in Bucharest.

The course was attended by law enforcement officials from 19 EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, The Netherlands and Sweden), Switzerland and Turkey. Among the trainers of this activity there were invited experts from Europol, FBI, Slovakia, Poland, CERT-RO, Romanian Intelligence Service, Public Ministry, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romanian Police Academy, Bitdefender and General Inspectorate of Romanian Police.

The aim of this course was to enhance cooperation on cross-border cases involving trafficking of drugs, firearms etc. by using TOR-networks and Darknet and to harmonise investigative methods between EU and non-EU law enforcement.

Particular attention was paid to the following aspects:

• Darkweb investigations ; drugs and firearms trafficking;
• Child SE over the Internet;
• Joint Investigation Team in cross border investigations;
• Cooperation between CERTs and LE;
• Darknet Project;
• OSINT Investigations;
• Patterns in Darkweb;
• Virtual Currency;
• From Cryptography to Practice;
• Case studies.

During the practical sessions, led by representatives from Bitdefender and General Inspectorate of Romanian Police, participants had the opportunity to improve their knowledge and share best practices related to Darknet investigations.

Participants visited SELEC Headquarters (Southeast European Law Enforcement Center), where they were welcomed by Ms. Manuela Nițu, assistant criminal analyst, who made an overview of the agency and of the most significant activities for fighting cross-border crime in South-Eastern part of Europe, highlighting the importance of permanent international law enforcement cooperation.

Due to the increasing use of technology and the Internet, the cyber threats have become a policy challenge and a high priority at the international level. Taking into consideration that the expertise and technical competencies of the participants were different, the course curriculum intended to create a balance between practical and theoretical sessions in order to provide all participants with the general overview of this complex phenomenon and to determine the effective investigation techniques.

Therefore, the training programme implemented in Bucharest represents an important contribution for the law enforcement cooperation in fighting against criminals involved in illegal activities via hidden market.