Interpol Preps Gobal Cybercrime Center

One of the many challenges faced by law enforcement worldwide in investigating cybercrime cases is the ability to efficiently share intelligence among different nations and to disseminate it to the appropriate local police units.

Michael Moran, director of cybersecurity and cybercrime for Interpol, said the planned opening of the Interpol Global Complex in Singapore in 2014 is crucial to improving global cooperation among law enforcement. Moran says the organization is working on putting in place a secure online presence for police worldwide to work together on cybercrime cases, which often crisscross multiple regions and geographic jurisdictions.

"The Confickr Working Group report called for a formalization to do these jobs. We are trying to achieve that in Singapore," Moran said Thursday in a presentation at the Kaspersky Lab Security Analyst Summit 2012 in Cancun, Mexico. This would formalize and better coordinate investigations of cybercrime among law enforcement worldwide, including the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, academia, and vendors.

Today, many local police forces aren't typically getting intelligence about cybercrime cases, nor do they have the resources and expertise to move forward on cybercrime cases, Moran said. "They can't afford to pay the young geeks" who have the expertise.

Interpol's new Global Complex ideally would help improve that flow of information and expertise to all levels of cybercrime investigation. Plans for the complex were first announced nearly two years ago, and details are just now beginning to emerge.

Eugene Kaspersky, founder and CEO of Kaspersky Lab, said the idea of an Internet Interpol was an idea he began pitching 10 years ago. "People were smiling on me then, but now governments are looking at it," Kaspersky said in his keynote address here yesterday. "There's an urgent need for an Internet Interpol and an Internet declaration."

Kaspersky later gave the latest Interpol plans for beefed-up collaboration resources and efforts a thumbs up.

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