INTERPOL Set To Open Global Cybercrime Center In 2014

CANCUN, MEXICO -- Kaspersky Security Analyst Summit 2012 -- One of the many challenges faced by law enforcement worldwide in investigating cybercrime cases is the ability to efficiently share intelligence among different nations and to disseminate it to the appropriate local police units.

Michael Moran, director of cybersecurity and cybercrime for INTERPOL, says the planned opening of the INTERPOL Global Complex in Singapore in 2014 is crucial to improving global cooperation among law enforcement. Moran says the organization is working on putting in place a secure online presence for police worldwide to work together on cybercrime cases, which often crisscross multiple regions and geographic jurisdictions.

"The Confickr Working Group report called for a formalization to do these jobs. We are trying to achieve that in Singapore," Moran said yesterday in a presentation here at the Kaspersky Lab Security Analyst Summit 2012. This would formalize and better coordinate investigations of cybercrime among law enforcement worldwide, including the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, academia, and vendors.

Today, many local police forces aren't typically getting intelligence about cybercrime cases, nor do they have the resources and expertise to move forward on cybercrime cases, Moran said. "They can't afford to pay the young geeks" who have the expertise.

INTERPOL's new Global Complex ideally would help improve that flow of information and expertise to all levels of cybercrime investigation. Plans for the complex were first announced nearly two years ago, and details are just now beginning to emerge.

Eugene Kaspersky, founder and CEO of Kaspersky Lab, said the idea of an Internet INTERPOL was an idea he began pitching 10 years ago. "People were smiling on me then, but now governments are looking at it," Kaspersky said in his keynote address here yesterday. "There's an urgent need for an Internet INTERPOL and an Internet declaration."

Kaspersky later gave the latest INTERPOL plans for beefed-up collaboration resources and efforts a thumbs up.

He also shared his concerns for the worst-case security scenarios during his keynote, including targeted cyberweapons going out of control and causing collateral damage: "I'm afraid that a cyberweapon with a mistake in the code would damage that and many other random targets around the world," Kaspersky said.

Another concern, he said, is that cyberterrorists will hire hacktivists to do their dirty work.

Meanwhile, the privately held Kaspersky Lab today announced that it has decided not to go public and will buy back the shares it sold to a private equity firm that was hired to set up the firm for an initial public offering (IPO).

General Atlantic purchased a $200 million stake -- about 20 percent -- of Kaspersky in January 2011.

Kaspersky said that remaining a private firm is the "right way" to continue with the company, so it would begin the process of buying back General Atlantic's stock. "We will stay private for the foreseeable future," he said. "We will stay focused on security -- maybe not just antivirus," he said, hinting that the company could branch out into other areas of security. "This is to protect the spirit and emotion of the company."

Among the drawbacks of going public, he said, would be that the company would no longer be as fleet on its feet. "There is a longer decision-making process, and more reports" for a public company, he said. "It gets a little slower."

Kaspersky still plans to work with General Atlantic "in other ways in the future," he said in a statement.

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