LEA CLUSTER

CC-DRIVER is a three-year, EU-funded project investigating the drivers of cybercrime and, especially, how young people can be turned away from cybercrime to use their talents in more socially productive ways. The €5 million project began in May 2020, has 13 partners from eight countries and is co-ordinated by Trilateral Research (UK). For more information, see the CC-DRIVER website.

COPKIT is a three-year, EU-funded project that addresses the problem of analysing, preventing and investigating the use of ICTs by organised crime and terrorist groups. In this context, the project is developing a toolkit to support the Early Warning (EW)/Early Action (EA) methodology. The €5 million project began in June 2018, has 18 partners from 13 countries and is co-ordinated by Ingeniería de Sistemas para la Defensa de España (ISDEFE) (ES).

For more information see the COPKIT website.

The Cut The Cord - CTC project is an EU-ISF-Police funded project with 30 months duration that kicked off in November 2021. Its consortium consists of 10 partners from across Europe. It aims at preventing and disrupting terrorism financing through a public-private cooperation enhancement, capacity building and preparedness of the end-users regarding Countering Terrorism Financing. CTC will provide technical solutions based on Artificial Intelligence tools for data acquisition and analysis of financial transactions (e.g., cryptocurrency transactions). To achieve the above objectives and in order to maximize the applicability and usability of CTC, the project aspires to form a strong Stakeholder Community, with members from key group audiences such as Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), financial authorities and payment services, cryptocurrency anti money laundering organisations, policy makers, and more.

For more information see the CTC website.

A significant number of young people, and even children, are suspected of cybercrime every year. To address this challenging trend, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) launched an early intervention project called Cybercrime Exit in 2020. The Cybercrime Exit project targets young people aged 12 to 25 who have committed or are at risk of committing cybercrime. The project seeks to tackle cyber-dependent crime committed by young people against information networks and information systems. The project aims to create, pilot and implement an intervention-based program for breaking a cycle of crime and to build up and enhance cooperation with organizations and other bodies for the prevention of cybercrime in the future. The aim of preventive cooperation with public authorities, NGOs and the information security sector is to highlight boundaries of legal activity and to help young people identify the point where actions become criminal. In 2022 the Cybercrime Exit project operates as part of the Development Program for Cybersecurity adopted by the Finnish Government.

CYBERSPACE is a three-year project, funded through the European Commission’s Internal Security Fund Programme. Starting in December 2021, CYBERSPACE will provide the bigger picture regarding cybercrime in the European Union. By faciliating reporting of cyber attacks, mapping response actions and co-ordinating between LEAs, policy makers and the private sector and across national borders, LEAs‘ capacities to investigate cybercrime will be enhanced.
The project consortium consists of eleven partners from eight countries and is co-ordinated by the University of Applied Sciences in Bavaria, Department of Policing.
For more information see the CYBERSPACE website.

CYCLOPES is a 5-year (2021-2026) running EU funded project building and maintaining an innovation-driven network of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) combating cybercrime. We identify solutions and research activities that help tackle the complexity of cybercrime — whilst eliciting priorities for standardisation and recommendations for innovation implementation and increased uptake. Key partners and networks for CYCLOPES includes: EUROPOL, ENLETS, ECTEG, EJCN, EACTDA, i-LEAD, ILEAnet, iProcurenet, CEN and 11 European LEA full project partners/practitioners from UK, Poland, Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Croatia, Belgium, Latvia, Bulgaria and Malta. 

CYCLOPES increases impact by creating successful synergies with LEAs, Industry and Academia. This is achieved through interactive Joint Live Exercises and stimulating dialogue on pressing security matters and crime concerns in relevant workshops, webinars and events.

For more information see the CYCLOPES website.

DARLENE is a three-year project that will offer European law enforcement agencies an augmented reality ecosystem with powerful deep learning algorithms that will improve situational awareness and effectiveness in all security verticals. The €7 million project will begin in September 2020, has 15 partners from 10 countries and is co-ordinated by the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH) (GR).

For more information see the DARLENE website.

The development of cybercrime investigation tools is an industry worth millions of euro. Although commercial tools offer a degree of reliability and technical support, they come with a high price tag. This makes them prohibitively expensive for police forces on small budgets. The creation of free, effective, reliable tools for cybercrime investigators would therefore greatly assist the global fight against cybercrime. A growing number of cybercrime investigators develop their own tools to support their investigations. These may also be used within a unit/jurisdiction but often are not shared with the wider community. Quite often the developed tools offer the same (and sometimes more advanced) levels of functionality than commercial options.
The FREETOOL Project brings together such developers and offers them a platform for collaboration and distribution. Our motivation for developing tools are often due to the cost of, failings of, or lack of alternative commercial solutions.
FREETOOL applications are developed by law enforcement officers, for law enforcement officers, and are therefore are designed to meet their requirements.

For more information see the FREETOOL website.

HEROES is a three-year project structured as a comprehensive solution that encompasses three main components: Prevention, Investigation and Victim Assistance. Through these components, HEROES' solution aims to establish a coordinated contribution with LEAs by developing an appropriate, victim-centred approach that is capable of addressing specific needs and providing protection. The HEROES project’s main objective is to use technology to improve the way in which help and support can be provided to victims of THB and CSA/CSE. The €4.9 million project began in December 2021, has 27 partners from 17 countries and is coordinated by Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). 

For more information see the HEROES website.

INSPECTr is a three-year project that will develop a shared intelligent platform and novel process for gathering, analysing, prioritising and presenting key data to help in the prediction, detection and management of crime in support of multiple agencies at the local, national and international level. The €7 million project began in September 2019, has 18 partners from 13 countries and is coordinated by University College Dublin (IE).

For more information see the INSPECTr website.

LAW-GAME European Project brings together 19 partners from 11 European countries under a basic goal: to train Law Enforcement Officers (LEAs) and first responders on the procedures to be followed during crime scene investigation and illegal act predictions. To achieve this LAW-GAME will develop a complete training system based on serious games, virtual reality technologies and AI-assisted procedures. The LAW-GAME training system will enhance the training experience of LEAs via recreating real-world scenarios through virtual simulations and situation analysis, introducing an attractive approach to developing core competencies required for conducting forensic examination, effective questioning and recognizing and mitigating potential terrorist attacks.

For more information see the LAW-GAME website.

LOCARD is a project funded through the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program. The three-year project (May 2019 - April 2022) will automate the collection of digital evidence in any electronic format and medium by providing a unique platform for exchanging this evidence. Its goal is to provide a comprehensive management approach to handle digital evidence to be presented in a court of law, alleviating many issues of current art and practice. LOCARD aims to increase trust in the handling and processing of digital evidence and the management of chain of custody by providing transparency and using immutable chain of custody stored with blockchain technology.

For more information see the LOCARD website.

Novel technologies have presented practitioners with new opportunities to improve the intelligence process, but have also created new challenges and threats. Consequently, the timely identification of emerging technologies and analysis of their potential impact, not only on the intelligence community but also on terrorist or criminal organisations, is crucial. However, time constraints can prevent intelligence practitioners from being updated on the most recent technologies.

In order to address this challenge NOTIONES will establish a network, connecting researchers and industries with the intelligence community. This network will facilitate exchange on new and emerging technologies but also equip solution providers with insights on the corresponding needs and requirements of practitioners. The so gained findings will be disseminated in periodic reports containing technologic roadmaps and recommendations for future research projects and development activities.

For more information see the NOTIONES website.

PREVISION is a two-year, EU-funded project that aims to empower law enforcement agencies with tools and solutions to handle and capitalise on the massive heterogeneous data streams that must be processed during complex crime investigations and threat risk assessments. The €9 million project began in September 2019, has 28 partners from 13 countries and is co-ordinated by the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS) (GR).

For more information see the PREVISION website.

PROTAX is a three-year, EU-funded project that aims to generate, in close co-operation with practitioners, policy guidelines and toolkits to harmonise the treatment of tax crime and enhance information sharing across different European jurisdictions. The €3 million project began in May 2018, has 9 partners from 6 countries and is co-ordinated by Coventry University (UK).

For more information see the PROTAX website.

The RAYUELA project is a three-year project with a budget of €5 million. The project will begin in October 2020, has 17 partners from 9 countries and is co-ordinated by Universidad Pontificia Comillas (ES).  It will bring together experts from different areas of knowledge from all over Europe to develop an interactive story-like game that, on the one side, will allow minors to learn good practices on the use of the Internet and associated technology by playing, and, on the other side, will allow modelling, in a friendly and non-invasive manner, online habits and potential risk profiles related to cybersecurity and cybercriminality, providing Law Enforcement Agencies with scientifically sound foundations to define appropriate policies.

For more information see the RAYUELA website.

ROXANNE is a three-year project, with aim to develop a platform that will increase agencies’ capabilities via voice recognition, language and video technologies. The project will support LEA’s activities through multilanguage applications based on voice, text and face technologies. The €7 million project began in September 2019, has 24 partners from 16 countries and is co-ordinated by Idiap Research Institute (CH).

For more information see the ROXANNE website.

STARLIGHT (Sustainable Autonomy and Resilience for LEAs using AI against High priority Threats) is a 4-year project funded under EU Horizon 2020 that addresses the need for artificial intelligence applications by law enforcement agencies (LEAs). The project focuses on raising awareness, data requirements, AI tool development, understanding regulatory and legislative frameworks, and building an AI hub that supports a strong security industry and raises LEAs’ expertise and capacity to apply AI technologies and combat the misuse of AI-supported crime and terrorism.

STARLIGHT works towards creating a community that brings together LEAs, researchers, industry, and practitioners in the security ecosystem under a coordinated and strategic effort to bring AI into operational practices, thus enhancing the EU’s strategic autonomy in the field of AI for LEAs.

As a strategic project in the EU security domain, STARLIGHT involves the collaboration of 52 partners including 15 Law Enforcement Agencies and public bodies from across Europe.
For more information visit the STARLIGHT website.

The Tools4LEAs project focuses on delivering fully-tested and validated software tools/solutions to European public security entities (law enforcement agencies, forensic institutes, and others) to help them fight cybercrime. The Tools4LEAs project aims at establishing a long-term and sustainable structure that delivers on a regular basis tools that are ready to be used at operational level. These tools will have no license costs for European public security practitioners. The project is funded by the European Commission under the Internal Security Fund Police (ISFP) programme and EACTDA is the sole beneficiary of the Tools4LEAs project.

For more information see the Tools4LEAs website.

TRACE is a three-year project that will perform intensive cross-disciplinary research to develop technological and socio-legal tools for tracking illicit money flows in Europe. By drawing information from the dark web and using machine learning and AI to make connections, TRACE will be able to visualise illicit money flows for use by LEAs. The €7 million project began in July 2021, has 16 partners from 8 countries and is co-ordinated by Coventry University (CU).