Europol announces new hacker-tracking agency J-CAT

The European Union law enforcement agency Europol yesterday announced a new hacker-tracking agency called the Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT) to combat digital crime in the EU and beyond.

The J-CAT, which is being piloted for six months, will coordinate international investigations with other agencies working side-by-side to take action against key cybercrime threats and top targets, such as underground forums and malware, including banking Trojans. 

The J-CAT will be led by Andy Archibald, Deputy Director of the National Cyber Crime Unit from the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA).

The J-CAT, which was initiated by Europol's EC3, the EU Cybercrime Taskforce, the FBI and the NCA, comprises cyber liason officers from the EU and partnering law-enforcement agencies across the world including Canada, Germany, France, Spain, the UK and the US.

The team' s mandate would be to neutralise key cyber-crime threats and targets, such as underground forums and malware, including banking trojans.

The agency would be led by Andy Archibald, deputy director of the National Cyber Crime Unit from the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA).

According to Troels Oerting, head of the European Cybercrime Centre, it was a good day for those fighting cybercrime in Europe and beyond. He said for the first time in modern police history, a multi-lateral permanent cybercrime taskforce had been established in Europe to coordinate investigations against top cybercriminal networks.

He added, the goal was to prevent cybercrime, to disrupt it, catch crooks and seize their illegal profits. He added this was the first step in a long walk towards an open, transparent, free but also safe internet. The goal was not possible to be reached by law enforcement alone, but would require a consolidated effort from many stakeholders in our global village.

He added, he was confident that practical tangible results would be evident very soon.

Cybercrime police from Austria, Canada, Colombia, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK and the US had already committed to be part of the six-month pilot for J-CAT, The Guardian reported.

The team would coordinate investigations into widespread threats, including viruses that steal banking logins, as also high-profile criminals, such as those dealing hacker tools and selling personal data on underground forums.

As many as 18 individuals from the respective global law enforcement agencies would be relocated to the Hague which is the base of the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3).

They would gather and share intelligence on cybercriminal activity before building cases, which would be presented to the J-CAT board headed by Archibald. The board would then decide on which cases to pursue.

According to Oerting, who spoke to The Guardian, J-CAT would be able to get investigations into ''top-level criminals'' moving far quicker than before. He added, it was not a talk shop, it was an operational entity.

He said this had to lead to more arrests and they had already identified a number of good cases.