On Thursday, March 17, the Italian Embassy in Romania, in collaboration with the Cyber Programme Office of the Council of Europe (C-PROC), organized the seminar “Cooperation on Cybercrime: challenges, opportunities and the way ahead” in Bucharest. The initiative, held in hybrid mode at the Residenza d’Italia, constituted the “flagship event” in Romania for the Italian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Its purpose was to promote, as a priority objective on the dossiers of countering cybercrime, the widest international adherence to the Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention on Countering Cybercrime (concerning enhanced cooperation and disclosure of electronic evidence, adopted in November 2021), which will be opened for signature next May 12 in Strasbourg.
The seminar, addressed to Heads of Mission and other representatives of Embassies of CoE member countries and those Parties to the Budapest Convention accredited in Romania, as well as the network of security experts at the same Embassies and stakeholders most involved in the fight against cybercrimes, also offered an interesting overview – starting from the concrete Italian and Romanian experiences – of the latest trends in the fight against a phenomenon that now affects contemporary economies and societies in three hundred and sixty degrees and consequently constitutes a threat to the fundamental values of the Council of Europe namely human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
Cyber 4.0 was invited to contribute to the Session “Capacity Building in the fight against Cybercrime: The Role of C- Proc and Compared International Expeciences” to share experience in cybersecurity training for the public and corporate sectors as a prevention tool against cybercrime.
The meeting was also an opportunity to share the opportunity for further Italy-Romania collaboration initiatives in the cyber field, also in light of the recent operational launch of the European Cybersecurity Competence Center, the European Union’s hub for industrial, technological and research promotion initiatives in cybersecurity.