Council of Europe to keep cooperating with Belarus in combating cybercrime

The Council of Europe is set to expand cooperation with Belarus in combating cybercrime, Head of the Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe, Executive Secretary of the Cybercrime Convention Committee Alexander Seger said as he spoke at the international conference “Cybercrime policies and capacity building in the Eastern Partnership region” on 13 November, BelTA has learned.

The representative of the Council of Europe welcomed Belarus’ efforts to confront and prevent cybercrimes and the country’s active participation in constructive discussions on the topic. He expressed hope that Belarus will do its utmost to combat the emerging threats and will keep improving the national legislation.

Head of the department responsible for investigating information security and intellectual property crimes at the Investigation Committee Alexander Sushko said that Belarus is doing a lot to maintain security in the field of information technologies both domestically and in cooperation with international organizations. “Cybercrime is an international issue; most of the crimes are committed by transnational criminal groups which members easily cross online borders between the states and take advantage of loopholes in national legislations,” he said.

One of such international criminal groups that distributed child pornography was detected by Belarusian policemen together with the FBI and Interpol. As a result of a special operation, about a dozen Belarusian nationals were arrested. After notifying the law enforcement of Canada, Spain, the United States, Australia, Brazil and France, over 2,500 people were held accountable for purchasing and storing pornography.

Alexander Sushko informed that Belarus considers setting up a national center to combat cybercrime. This center might use the expert solutions of the Council of Europe. According to him, the center will become a platform to discuss theoretical and practical aspects of cybercrime.

Belarus’ delegation is taking part in the international conference “Cybercrime policies and capacity building in the Eastern Partnership region” that is taking place in Chisinau on 12-14 November. The Belarusian delegation includes representatives of the Interior Ministry, the KGB, the Investigation Committee, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Foreign Ministry, the State Forensics Committee, and the Belarusian State University. All in all, the conference is attended by over 60 experts from the Eastern Partnership states.