Sofia, Sept 27 (BTA/GNA) – The protection of children will be at the focus of European Cybersecurity Month in October.
This was announced on Tuesday by Bulgaria’s Commissioner Vladimir Dimitrov, head of the Cybercrime Unit at Interior Ministry’s Chief Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime.
Speaking at a news conference hosted by the e-Government Ministry on the occasion of Cybersecurity Month, Dimitrov said that there is a special unit consisting of five people that deals with child sexual exploitation. “We have been assured by the Interior Ministry’s leadership that the number of staff will be increased. We also have a specialized group that deals with countering copyright and intellectual property crimes, as well as a small group that examines computers that have been seized during pre-trial proceedings,” he said.
Dimitrov listed some of the most frequent online crimes. The biggest problem right now are cybercrimes, which involve changing account holders’ International Bank Account Number (IBAN). “These are organized crime groups from North Africa, which manage to get into the emails of Bulgarian companies, change the IBANs, altering the payment the Bulgarian company makes, which results in companies losing between EUR 50k and EUR 300k each month. Once a year, we have companies that have lost a few million euro. This is the biggest problem when it comes to cybercrime,” he said.
Dimitrov noted that there are only around 40 police officers across the country who are working on cybercrime cases.
BTA/GNA