Regional Workshop on International and Regional Cooperation to Combat Cybercrime
5-6 March, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan
A regional workshop for law enforcement officers and prosecutors on international and regional cooperation to combat cybercrime took place in Almaty on 5-6 March 2019.
The workshop, jointly organized by sub-programme 2 of the Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighboring Countries and the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Kazakhstan focused on current trends and challenges in cybercrime including the role of cryptocurrency in criminal transactions, investigative techniques through social media and potential synergies with the private sector, including internet service providers. Furthermore, participants coincided on the need to strengthen cooperation at regional and international level and to facilitate the exchange of information.
More than 20 officials attended the event. This included participants from I.R. Afghanistan, I.R. Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, I.R. Pakistan, Uzbekistan and the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre for combating the illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors (CARICC). Experts from UNODC, the General Prosecutor Office's Academy of Uzbekistan and Nayatel (leading ISP company in Pakistan) contributed to the implementation of the training, which gave the opportunity to participants to acquire hands-on knowledge on highly complex subjects but also to share national experiences and challenges regarding the fight to emerging cyber-crimes. Many different issues were discussed including, the spreading of violent extremism, bank frauds, identity thefts, investigation on social media, the importance to respect established protocols when collecting digital evidences and the role that internet service providers can play to support law enforcement and prosecution.
Furthermore, the training represented an invaluable occasion to discuss future cooperation among participating countries both at regional and international level.
In this regard, at the end of the workshop participants agreed on the importance to revamp the informal regional experts working group established in 2017 to strengthen regional cooperation, facilitate the exchange of information and increase trust among practitioners.
UNODC thanked the government of Finland and the European Union for funding the workshop.