Andy Archibald, deputy director of the UK’s National Cyber Crime Unit, will head up a new initiative from Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) designed to better co-ordinate international investigations into online threats.
The Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT), will be piloted for six months initially with National Crime Agency (NCA) man Archibald at the helm, Europol announced on Monday.
J-CAT’s mission will be to improve international law enforcement co-operation and intelligence sharing by gathering data from national governments and private repositories, translating it into actionable intelligence and singling out targets for investigation.
It will be focused on major criminal activity including malware campaigns, botnets, fraud, intrusion and more, and is also slated to engage with CERT-EU and key private sector stakeholders, Europol said.
J-CAT was apparently set up by EC3 with help from the FBI and NCA, and will feature a team of Cyber Liason Officers from member states as well as law enforcement partners outside the EU such as Canada, Australia and Colombia.
“The J-CAT will, for the first time, bring together a coalition of countries across Europe and beyond to coordinate the operational response to the common current and emerging global cyber threats faced by J-CAT members,” said Archibald in a prepared statement.
“This is a unique opportunity for international law enforcement agencies to collectively share our knowledge to defend against cyber related attacks, and the UK’s National Crime Agency is proud to be a founding member.”
Brian Honan, security consultant and EC3 special advisor, welcomed the announcement, claiming that J-CAT should promote a “better, faster and more effective exchange of information and intelligence” between police across borders.
“One of the biggest challenges we face fighting cybercrime is the international element and how police forces can pursue and prosecute criminals across borders,” he told Infosecurity.
“While international cooperation groups have been set up in the best they have focused mainly on specific operations, this group will work together on more strategic issues which hopefully will bring bigger rewards such as more arrests and takedowns of criminal infrastructure.”
Honan also welcomed the appointment of “experienced individuals and agencies” which should help the fight against cybercrime and added that Archibald’s inclusion “should help develop the capabilities of J-CAT.”
One of the biggest challenges we face fighting cybercrime is the international element and how police forces can pursue and prosecute criminals across bordersBrian Honan