Panda Security Insight

According to recent reports, MEPs have proposed creating a court specialized in digital crime as yet another step in the fight against cyber-criminals. The European Parliament has voted in favor of creating a European Court of Cyber Affairs. This proposal will now have to pass through other EU filters before reaching the heads of state who will have the last word. This will probably be decided at the European Council Summit on December 10-11.

We still don’t know the final decision and whether the initiative will go ahead, but I believe it’s worth underlining the importance that the fight against cyber-crime seems to finally have been given in the heart of the EU. After several years in which Internet crime figures have risen without a corresponding rise in the resources made available to combat it, it is certainly positive to hear that the EU is making a move.

And it is particularly positive that it is being done at the level of the EU. The fight against cyber-crime from a national perspective is necessary, but limited in scope: it is difficult to fight against a type of crime and criminals who are not restricted by borders from a jurisdiction limited to a national territory. That’s why this effort must be undertaken by supra-national organizations. In this respect, the National Cyber-Security Advisory Council in Spain (founded by Panda) has backed the initiative put forward by the Spanish senate in favor of creating a European Plan for Cyber-Security. This motion favors the creation of a European Plan for Cyber-Security during the Spanish presidency of the European Union in 2010.

The motion put forward by MEPs to create the European Court of Cyber Affairs is driven by the “significant increase in recent years” of online crime. The dark side of the Net. Yet we must still not forget that the Internet is a medium that offers substantial opportunities to society -and is vital for its financial/economic fabric-, as well as bringing together cultures and organizations without geographic frontiers. To defend a solid Internet, free from threats, is a collective exercise in which institutions have a key role.

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Raising of awareness, security