In the landscape of growing threat of cybercrime, CERTs/CSIRTs (Computer Emergency/Computer Security Incident Response Teams) have an important role in preventing cyber-attacks and in coordinating the technical response at national level. They may help in monitoring and reporting cybercrimes, in sharing technical information on ongoing or past attacks and in securing electronic evidence. It is therefore essential that CERTs and criminal justice authorities put in place an efficient and effective collaboration, where roles, responsibilities and segregation of duties are defined and agreed upon.

With the Workshop on the development of standard operating procedures for cooperation between CSIRTs and Law Enforcement for the Azerbaijani authorities on 3-4 March 2021, the CyberEast project, in partnership with the Cybersecurity East project, has closed the series of similar workshops in the Eastern Partnership region, which started in August 2020. These two days workshops brought together CSIRTs and law enforcement authorities to establish templates for cooperation procedures between professional communities of cybercrime investigators, cybersecurity players and private sector representatives. The need for established procedures and practices for effective and balanced cooperation should become an accepted practice.

These series will be followed up with a stage II session to further strengthen the cooperation between different authorities in fighting cybercrime.