State of the Practice of Computer Security Incident Response Teams ...

1151/2003/EC 130 ) was adopted in 2003, calling for a two-year extension of the IAP (through
2004) and adapting its scope and implementation. The European Commission also adopted a
proposal for a Council Framework Decision on attacks against information systems, 131 consistent
with the CoE Convention on Cybercrime, to approximate criminal law for illegal access
to and interference with information systems, and to ensure the greatest possible police
and judicial cooperation in the area of criminal offences related to attacks against information
systems. This proposal for a decision was amended and approved by the European Parliament,
and is now (as of this writing) waiting final decision and signature to be enacted. The
European Commission’s Information Society Directorate-General has also commissioned and
funded a CSIRT Handbook of Legislative Procedures, 132 to assist European CSIRTs with a
guide that “matches technical descriptions of incidents to the legal framework of the country
in question and details procedures for working with law enforcement to respond to incidents.”
133 This handbook was published in paper form in September 2003. 134
The “Group of 8” (G8) major industrial democracies 135 has held summits, meetings, and
workshops and has proposed recommendations for the fight against high-tech and Internetbased
crimes, which may influence the standardization of other laws in the future. The G8
Lyon Group 136 (formerly the Senior Experts Group on Transnational Organized Crime) has
worked on technical as well as legal issues (judicial cooperation, law enforcement projects,
high-tech crime) to fight transnational organized crime, including the establishment of a network
of 24-hour points of contact in many countries around the world. 137 Recent G8 meetings
have focused on safety and confidence in cyber space, and on combating high-tech crime. 138
In 2000, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted the “United Nations Convention
Against Transnational Organized Crime” 139 to promote cooperation to prevent and combat
transnational organized crime more effectively. Although not specifically focused on cyber
crimes, the articles in the Convention will apply to high-tech criminal investigations, by
providing the legal framework to harmonize different legal systems and to overcome traditional
problems associated with international cooperation and mutual assistance.
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. “Handbook of Legislative Procedures
of Computer and Network Misuse in EU Countries for assisting Computer Security Incident Response
Teams (CSIRTs)”
The handbook can be obtained from RAND Europe at the following address: RAND Europe - Leiden,
Newtonweg 1, 2333 CP Leiden, The Netherlands. Tel. +31 71 524 5151; Fax +31 71 524 5191.
. The G8 countries consist of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, plus representatives from the European Union.
CMU/SEI-2003-TR-001 117