VOX Gibraltar News - RGP Officers participate in Cyber Crime Conference

The Royal Gibraltar Police’s Head of Crime and Protective Services, Superintendent Ian McGrail, together with the High Tech Crime Unit’s, Constable Jason Oton, have this week attended the SINCERE Launching Conference in Jersey.

The Small Island Nations Centre of Excellence [SINCERE] project is a EU funded project. The States of Jersey Police have secured £250,000 worth of European funding to create a centre for the fight against cyber-crime, promote cyber-crime investigation training, research and education, create networks and share both products and work. Following on from the reconstituted Small Islands Forum of police chiefs, the participants in the SINCERE Project are the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Cyprus and Malta. The Canterbury Christ Church University in the UK have agreed to be academic partners.

The expected outcomes for the project are:

Establish a Centre of Excellence in Cyber-crime in collaboration with established and newly formed centres of excellence across the EU.
Create the collaborative “Small Island Nations Centre of Excellence for Research and Education” [SINCERE]
Conduct a threat analysis of the financial sectors of the islands and provide preventative advice to industry and Law Enforcement.
Develop a training and education framework for small islands LE, recognising the requirements unique to small jurisdictions compared to larger national centres.
Work with new and existing centres of excellence to ensure future networking and collaboration among the centres in developing innovative solutions in the fight against cyber-crime.

During this initial conference each participating country presented on its own cyber- crime threats, challenges and opportunities. The Gibraltar presentation was delivered by Superintendent McGrail.

Participants attended workshops to discuss future cyber-security strategies and training needs. The also received an expose by the Policy Director of the Jersey Financial Services Commission on cybersecurity issues in the financial sector.

Supt McGrail said: “It is vitally important for the RGP to be involved in projects such as SINCERE. Reliance on the internet, electronic devices and related critical infrastructure is increasing exponentially. Understanding how to mitigate the threat of cyber-crime and also how to investigate and prosecute those that commit these crimes is becoming more relevant by the day. Our participation is a reflection of our investment in our staff working in this complex virtual world in the fight against cyber-crime.”