Last week, on 23 November, the international seminar was held about the issues of combatting of economic crimes "Seminar of Digital Forensic Science: Best Artifact Search Techniques". The seminar discussed the topical trends and innovations in the field of digital forensic science, gathering in one place the most competent industry experts from various law enforcement institutions, both nationally and internationally. The seminar was organized by the officials of the State Police Economic Crime Combatting Department within the framework of the European Economic area grant 2014-2021 programme “International Police Cooperation and Combating Crime” project No.EEZ/VP/2020/1 “Support to the State Police for increasing effectiveness and quality of economic crime investigation in Latvia””.
Since 2021, the State Police performs ambitious employee education with various seminars and practical lessons on economic crimes that are committed in the digital environment. This international seminar was focused on learning the trends and related challenges of digital forensics, 40 participants from eight different law enforcement institutions participated in person - State Police Cybercrime Combating Department and Forensic Science Department, State Security Service, Military Intelligence and Security Service, Internal Security Office, Military Police, the State Revenue Service, the Cybercrime Combating Department of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, the Estonian Cybercrime Combating Bureau, as well as field experts from Israel.
Iļja Buglovs, the Deputy Head of the State Police Central Criminal Police Department Cyber Crime Combatting Department, Acting Head of the 3rd Division indicates: "This was a unique opportunity to exchange experiences and success stories of the strongest representatives of the information technology field in the country, as well as to get acquainted with the valuable experience of Estonian and Lithuanian colleagues in the field of digital forensic science. Taking into account the challenges caused by the criminal environment and the geopolitical situation, we must be able to cope with the tasks set side by side on a daily basis and strengthen our internal security by applying info-technical knowledge and skills."
The seminar was held in two parts, covering both the theoretical and practical side. In the theoretical part, representatives from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Israel shared their experiences and challenges in info-technical work. Topics such as mobile forensic science, crypto wallets and information decryption, Cellebrite investigative tools were also covered.
In order to promote cooperation and exchange of opinions, the participants were divided into several groups in the practical part of the seminar. The task of the lesson was to simulate a search in the office, which was set up in the grounds of the Investigator Training Center of the State Police College. Planning had to be performed during it and a previously prepared task had to be solved, which was aimed at removal of electronic evidence and retrieving information. At the end, the participants jointly analyzed the results achieved by the teams.
In general, the seminar was successful, the participants highly appreciated the opportunity to learn about the most current trends and practices of international partners in the field of digital forensic science.
Seminar on the issues of investigating economic crimes "Seminar of Digital Forensic Science: Best Artifact Search
Seminar was organized within the framework of the European Economic area grant 2014-2021 programme “International Police Cooperation and Combating Crime” project No.EEZ/VP/2020/1 “Support to the State Police for increasing effectiveness and quality of economic crime investigation in Latvia”.