Editorial - European Union Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Editorial
Editorial
Editorial
by Jovo Marković
Head of the Department
for High Technology Crime Prevention
Republika Srpska Ministry of Interior
Cyber crime – high technology crime represents
the form of criminal behaviour whe -
re the use of computer technologies and
information systems serve as tools for committing
a criminal offence, thus producing a
relevant consequence from the criminal and
legal point of view. High technology crime
also represents an offence against property,
where computer data are delibe rately
chan ged, destroyed (computer sabotage)
or used together with the hardware.
Computers and computer technology can
be misused in various ways, a crime committed
through the use of the computer can
take the form of any of the traditional forms
of crime, such as thefts and embezzlements,
while the data illegally obtained through the
misuse of information systems can be used
in various ways for gaining illegal benefit.
Recognising the seriousness of this form
of crime, Republika Srpska Ministry of In te -
rior formed in January 2010 the Department
for High Technology Crime Prevention. One
of its first activities was to harmonise the RS
Cri minal Code with the International Con -
ven tion on Cyber Crime, which created ba -
sic preconditions for our work.
As Internet is nowadays a great industry
and frequently a tool for earning enormous
amounts of money through children, our
activities have confirmed that this plague
has not missed BiH either.
A recent investigation by the RS Ministry
of Interior in Derventa has uncovered a person
with whom two million photographs
and 7.000 videos of child pornography were
found. It is interesting that this person
could not have been processed until last
year, because the mere possession of child
pornography had not been considered a
criminal offence before the latest changes
to the RS Criminal Code were done.
Since July last year, the RS Ministry of In -
te rior has conducted several operations,
such as Nezavisne, EG Stop, Oliver, Facebo -
ok, Derventa, which were aimed at preventing
the distribution of child pornography
pic tures on the Internet. Naturally, this is
only part of the activities that the RS Mi nis -
try of Interior has been conducting in the
fight against cyber crime, for investigation
of cases involving hacking into computer
databases, piracy prevention, frauds via In -
ternet etc should not be disregarded either.
Cyber crime prevention is also one of significant
tasks for the RS Ministry of Interior.
In the beginning of 2010, the Department
for High Technology Crime Prevention conducted
a survey in all elementary schools in
Banja Luka, which showed that children ne -
eded to be taught security on the Internet.
With that aim, at the beginning of the year
2010/2011, the RS Ministry of Interior, in co -
operation with the RS Ministry of Education
and the RS Ministry of Family, Youth and
Sports, started the project dubbed “Pro tec -
tion of children and adults on the Internet“
that is being implemented in all elementary
schools in Republika Srpska.
We have created a manual for children
con taining practical advice as to how to
pro tect themselves on the Internet and re -
cognise potential dangers. Then we started
holding lectures in schools.
With an aim of educating as many citizens
as possible, the Department for High
Tech nology Crime Prevention has created a
special webpage www.cyber-vtk.net that
tack les this problem and provides basic in -
formation on what cyber crime can be, also
making it possible to report high technology
crime.
As prevention is crucial in the fight
against high technology crime, these are
only some of the activities which the RS
Ministry of Interior intends to carry out. �
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