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Summaries of EU Legislation

    European Cybercrime Centre at Europol

    Date of last review:
    19/06/2014
    Initial creation date:
    19/06/2014
    Summarised document(s):
    Author:
    Publications Office of the European Union

    European Cybercrime Centre at Europol

    European societies are increasingly dependent on electronic networks and information systems. The evolution of information communication technology (ICT) has also seen the development of criminal activity that threatens citizens, businesses, governments and critical infrastructures alike. To help fight it, in 2013 the European Union set up the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) as part of Europol.

    ACT

    Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament: Tackling crime in our digital age: establishing a European Cybercrime Centre (COM(2012) 140 final of 28 March 2012).

    SUMMARY

    Cybercrime refers to criminal acts that are committed online using computers and communications networks (for example, the Internet). Cybercrime’s borderless nature calls for coordination and cooperation among law enforcement agencies. The European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), part of Europol and based in the Netherlands, plays a crucial role in disrupting the operations of the criminal gangs who commit cybercrime.

    Focus

    EC3 targets cybercrimes:

    —
    committed by organised crime groups, particularly those generating substantial illicit profits such as online fraud;

    —
    which cause serious harm to their victims, such as online child sexual exploitation; and

    —
    affecting critical infrastructure and information systems in the EU (including denial of service attacks designed to make targeted websites unusable).

    Functions

    1.

    European cybercrime information focal point: to gather information on cybercrime from a wide range of sources, identify trends and threats and improve intelligence.

    2.

    Pooling expertise to support EU countries in capacity building: mainly focusing on police and judiciary training.

    3.

    Operational support to member countries: encouraging the establishment of cross-border joint investigation teams to tackle specific cybercrime issues and the exchange of operational information in ongoing investigations. They will also provide storage, encryption (encoding messages or data to prevent unauthorised access) expertise and other online tools and facilities.

    4.

    The collective voice of European cybercrime investigators across law enforcement and the judiciary: in discussions with the ICT industry and other private sector companies as well as with the research community, users’ associations and citizens’ groups.

    RELATED ACT

    European Cybercrime Centre, First year report, February 2014.

    Last updated: 18.06.2014

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