Cybercriminals targeting Europe are now being monitored by a new European Centre called EC3 , which aims at fighting against cybercrime and was officially opened on January 11th , 2013.

The threat of cybercrime goes beyond the borders of individual countries and the European Community has decided to react by creating the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3).

Internet is global, and so is the cybercrime it conveys

says Christian Aghroum, who coordinates a Club of companies security directors called CDSE and one of the key people involved in this project since 2008. We can not be satisfied to see the problem being address on a national level. The set up of this center will make the fight against cybercrime more efficient. It shows the awareness about cybersecurity issues from the European authorities. "

Entities coordinating the action of the policies of European Member States already exist : they are sharing their experiences within the European Police Office (Europol). The new center is actually hosted by Europol in The Hague, in the Netherlands.

Europe is the region in the world which is the most connected to the Internet and where credit card transactions are the most numerous in the world. Cybersecurity is a critical issue in Europe, where the usage of Internet via broadband is growing.

Every day, only bank card fraud costs 1.5 billion euros in Europe, according to Grzegorz Mazurkiewicz an expert within EC3. Threats can take various forms: spying, data theft, financial scams, identity theft, etc. .... Indeed those attacks both affect individuals, businesses and governments.

EC3 has therefore set out to map and track the sources of cyber attacks outside the European Union that threatens several European countries. Its role is to provide national police with advice, technical assistance and information. The new center will focus against bank fraud, financial scams, online pornography, cyber attacks against the infrastructure and piracy vital information systems of the European Union. It should also facilitate R & D in this field, helping to strengthen the capacities of police European services, judges and prosecutors in the field, and will also help in developing reports and disseminate early warnings.

The European Cybercrime Centre has got clear guidance on its tasks and responsibilities and this can be read in detail in the communication on establishing a European Cybercrime Centre - issued on March 28 by the European Commission. Our primary task will be assisting member states in preventing, disrupting, investigating and prosecuting cybercrime. For, organised crime networks are increasingly migrating and developing their traditional criminal activities from the off-line world to the online world. They see the advantage of stealing money via hacking, cracking, spoofing, fraud, identity theft and by stealing corporate secrets they can profit from. Hate crime also flourishes in this 'anonymous' world and child abusers take similar advantage of the ability to act without leaving trace. And, unlike in the physical world, these cybercriminals do not have to meet.

EC3 is funded from the general budget of Europol and should have only 7 million for its operations in 2013 budget of the European Police Office, according to Techcrunch. In the future, the European Commission said it will increase Europol's budget to ensure that the EC3 can meet reach the level of its ambitions.