From 2 to 5 September 2024, the Council of Europe, alongside Team Cymru, co-organised for the fourth time the Underground Economy Conference at the Council of Europe premises, Palais de l’Europe, in Strasbourg, France. This year’s event gathered around 500 experts representing law enforcement agencies, the cybersecurity community, private industry professionals, financial services and academia from across the globe attending 4 days of exclusive workshops and case discussions.
The Head of the Cybercrime Division of the Council of Europe addressed the opening of the event highlighting the importance of the partnership between the Council of Europe and Team Cymru, and that the Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention) remains the most relevant international instrument for cybercrime, electronic evidence and international cooperation, especially in the current context of the United Nations treaty implication on cybercrime legislation.
Through the legal standards and provisions offered by the Budapest Convention, the capacity building programs of the Cybercrime Progamme Office (C-PROC) and the support of the 24/7 Network of Contact Points, the Council of Europe plays a significant role in the face of the growing threats of cybercrime to human rights, democracy and the rule of law, including proliferation of ransomware attacks, disinformation, deepfake, criminal use of artificial intelligence, malware attacks, critical infrastructure attacks and online child exploitation and abuse.
The delegates that attended the conference this year could choose from over 75 workshops, presentations and information sharing talks by practitioners, for practitioners. Key subjects included cybercrime trends and methods for law enforcement and cybersecurity industry to counteract criminal activities online. The technology providers shared the latest tools and practices to combat cyber threats, emphasizing the importance of collaboration between with law enforcement agencies.
The CyberSEE project brought into the stage Operation Endgame, the largest international operation against botnets and Operation Cronos that disrupted the LockBit ransomware group, both coordinated by EUROPOL and demonstrating strong international cooperation in combating cybercrime.
The Underground Economy Conference is a great example of strengthening public-private cooperation and tackling global cybercrime through collaboration.
Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention)
Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention
Cybercrime Programme Office (C-PROC)
Team Cymru webpage