The IT firm Microsoft has made three new global partnerships: with the Organization of American States, Europol and FIS. It’s to increase cooperation between law enforcers and the private sector against cybercrime.
Microsoft officials signed memorandums of understanding with representatives of the three bodies during the US company’s first annual Cybercrime Enforcement Summit, which brought together 60 figures from law enforcement, academia and the private sector. The conference follows the opening last autumn of the Microsoft Cybercrime Center.
The agreements establish a framework for cooperation. Microsoft, the OAS, Europol and FIS anticipate working on forensic and technical analysis of malware and botnets; assessment and investigation of emerging malware threats; enforcement actions against cybercriminals; and the ultimate dismantling of these criminal organizations.
Brad Smith, Microsoft executive vice president and general counsel, said: “Cybercriminals are increasingly sophisticated in preying on consumers, including children and senior citizens. These agreements will help the private and public sectors fight cybercrime more effectively, while protecting our customers’ privacy.”
Microsoft points to its recent partnership with Europol to disrupt the dangerous ZeroAccess botnet, which infected up to two million computers and stole millions of dollars from online advertisers. Europol, which has its own European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) at Europol headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, has supported numerous major cybercrime operations involving malicious software and online child exploitation.
Europol’s Assistant Director Troels Oerting is in charge of EC3: “The ZeroAccess botnet disruption demonstrated the power of our combined efforts as our coordinated approach forced the cybercriminals in this case to walk away from their criminal enterprise. This kind of collaboration is the new model needed to attack cybercrime, and that is why we’re committed to working with Microsoft so we can take more aggressive action in the future.”
More about Microsoft’s efforts to fight cybercrime and the new Microsoft Cybercrime Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news/presskits/dcu.
