In 2014 the Training of Trainers (TOT) Project was funded by the European Union and managed by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, to improve efficiency, cooperation and mutual understanding of the main actors involved in the fight against cybercrime: Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and Prosecutors. One of the goals was to create a framework for the certification for European Cybercrime Investigators and Cybercrime European Prosecutors to establish the basis for the development of a group of professionals with the ability to properly deal with transnational problems of cybercrime.
A 2017 European Parliament published resolution deplores the fact that currently no EU standards for training and certification exist; acknowledges that future trends in cybercrime require an increasing level of expertise from practitioners; welcomes the fact that existing initiatives such as ECTEG, the Training of Trainers (TOT) Project and the training activities under the EU Policy Cycle framework are already paving the way towards addressing the expertise gap at EU level.
Nowadays, the Global Cybercrime Certification Project funded by ECTEG provides an opportunity to implement the work done in the TOT Project, creating an international certification framework based on the Training Competency Framework for Cybercrime (TCF) to enable Law Enforcement Agents and Judicial Authorities to develop their knowledge and skills and to enhance confidence within the criminal justice system of their jurisdiction, as well as international investigations.
The three main objectives of this project are to seek sustainability of this certification system, to develop certification requirements for the roles of “Head of Cybercrime Unit”, “Online Investigator”, “Digital Forensic Examiner” and “Judicial Authorities dealing with Cybercrime Investigations”, as well as to deliver pilots for the target LEAs and Judicial Authorities.
The Global Cybercrime Certification is a tool for capacity building at EU (and international) level:
- contributing to raising and harmonising the standards in EU cybercrime training.
- supporting national training and certification efforts by providing an instrument adaptable to the different specific laws and processes, maintaining an EU perspective.
- counting with both practitioners and EU stakeholders.
It is important to note that the certification will not be linked to any specific training, nor will the project deliver any training. The certification is fully independent from the training allowing to certify practitioners who followed any additional training organised by national LEAs, international organisations, an academic curriculum or ad-hoc training.
Expected deliverables
- Description of the Global Cybercrime Certification Framework.
- Head of Cybercrime Unit role description and Certification requirements.
- Online Investigator role description and Certification requirements.
- Digital Forensics Examiner role description and Certification requirements.
- Judicial Authorities dealing with Cybercrime Investigations role description and Certification requirements.
- Pilots sessions, organised for attendees from all EU countries:
| Profile | Sessions | Attendees / session |
| Head of Cybercrime Unit | 3 | 12 |
| Online Investigator | 3 | 5 |
| Digital Forensics Examiner | 5 | 10 |
| Judicial Authorities | 3 | 20 |