Interpol launches initiative to fight cybercrime in Africa

 

Interpol is creating a new cybercrime operations desk with UK funding to boost the capacity of 49 African countries to fight cybercrime, the police organization said in a statement.

The Africa desk will help shape a regional strategy to drive intelligence-led coordinated actions against cybercriminals and support joint operations.

“We are working with like-minded partners, to make sure that the international order that governs cyber activity is fit for purpose,”  UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said at a CYBERUK conference in London.

“Our aim should be to create a cyberspace that is free, open, peaceful and secure, which benefits all countries and all people.”

“We want to see international law respected in cyberspace, just like anywhere else. And we need to show how the rules apply to these changes in technology, the changes in threats, and the systemic attempts to render the internet a lawless space.”

A 2017 assessment coordinated by INTERPOL with partners and member countries in Africa found that each act of Internet fraud targeting businesses enabled cybercriminals to steal an average of USD 2.7 million from companies and USD 422,000 from individuals.

“The UK’s support for INTERPOL’s cyber initiative in Africa underlines its commitment to this fight and will be an important piece of the global security architecture to combat cybercrime.”

The creation of INTERPOL’s new cybercrime desk comes at a time when cybercriminals are attacking the computer networks and systems of individuals, businesses and global organizations when cyber defences might be more vulnerable due to the shift of focus to the pandemic crisis.

The project will provide opportunities to take regular pulse checks on cybercrime in Africa and to publish annual threat landscape assessments that will underpin operational activities.

With UK funding for the two-year initiative amounting to almost GBP 3 million, the Africa cybercrime initiative will be implemented by the Cybercrime Directorate at the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation in Singapore.

Cybercrime is one of the most prolific forms of international crime, with damages set to cost the global economy USD 10.5 trillion annually by 2025.