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Technological gap and web-crime: What actions should the European Union take in

order to help its poorest Member States fight the increasing number of web-
crimes while respecting civil liberties?

With recent attacks on the European Space Agency (ESA)1, the carbon emission trading
scheme2 as well as the European Commission and European External Action Service3,
cybercrime has finally gained mass media attention, delivering a series of breaches that
serve as examples for how vulnerable even government institutions often are to emerging
threats. At the same time, Facebook worms, auction scams and credit card phishing cause
billions of Euros in damages to private property while endangering the trade secrets and
intellectual property of companies.
What is cybercrime? The Council of Europe's4 Convention on Cybercrime5, which entered
into force in 2004 and was signed by all EU member states foresees common handling of
• illegal access (e.g. guessing the password),
• illegal interception (e.g. wiretapping, sniffing communications),
• data interference (e.g. deletion/modification of files),
• system interference (e.g. overloading system resources [DoS]),
• misuse of devices (e.g. creating software primarily designed for attacking computer
systems),
• computer-related forgery (e.g. forging e-mails),
• computer-related fraud (e.g. phishing),
• offences related to child pornography (producing, offering, possessing, distributing
and procuring),
• offences related to copyright infringements and
• aiding, abetting or attempting any of the mentioned crimes.
The Convention also calls for cooperation in fighting these crimes between all countries
signing the agreement.
In reality, however, a life of computer crime often seems like a legitimate and profitable
career path, fueled by the perceived lack of competence of law enforcement. A recent
report6 released by a Russian security company estimates that cybercrime revenue in
Russia alone amounts to about 3.7 billion USD (~2.5 billion EUR). In Europe, particularly
Romania is well-known amongst information security professionals to be a hotbed for
computer-related crime such as phishing, malware attacks on businesses and scams7.
And while recent actions such as the introduction of the Data Retention Directive8 and the
proposal of a new European center for cybercrime9 signal an end to the long period of
inactivity in this area, one must consider the challenges when trying to strike a balance
1 http://packetstormsecurity.org/news/view/19012/ESA-Hack-Did-Not-Breach-Internal-Network.html
2 http://www.ecoticias.com/co2/40672/
3 http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/cyber-attacks-launched-on-eu-computer-systems/70608.aspx
4 NOTE: The Council of Europe is not an EU entity but a separate organisation with 47 members (the EU has 27).
5 http://www.coe.int/t/DGHL/cooperation/economiccrime/cybercrime/default_en.asp
6 http://news.hostexploit.com/cybercrime-news/4870-cybercrime-the-russian-market.html
7 https://www.infosecisland.com/blogview/11574-Small-Romanian-Town-Has-Become-Cyber-Crime-Central.html
8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Retention_Directive
9 http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/042910-europe-considers-new-cybercrime.html
between an effective combat on computer crimes and the protection of civil liberties as
guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular the freedom of
expression and the right to privacy. For instance, implementing surveillance that stores all
data a person ever transmits might – leaving the infeasibility (nobody could analyze such a
large amount of data in appropriate time) of this proposal out of the equation – lead to a
higher rate of caught criminals. At the same time, this course of action would without doubt
infringe on the human right to privacy (which is absolutely unacceptable for law
enforcement entities and in stark contrast to the values of the EU) and likely lead to a high
number of wrongfully convicted Europeans.
It is the task of this committee to find a compromise between measures that aid EU
Member States, especially those in precarious financial situations, in fighting cybercrime
and the preservation of the civil liberties that are guaranteed to all citizens of the union.

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