Plans for a pan-European counter-terrorism force (Internet Referral Unit), which would specialize in the field of cyberterrorism, are being presented to European ministers, as reported in a BBC report.
The Internet Referral Unit will be part of the broader framework of Europol and its main goal will be to remove jihadists from the Internet.
For this purpose, the combination of means and resources from EU member states will be sought to address the problem of the huge volume of hazardous related material.
According to an official, the issue rose high on the EU agenda after the terrorist attacks in Paris. “The Internet is a major enabler of radicalization to terrorism. Tackling this issue involves a number of different challenges,” a relevant document notes.
"The volume of online material promoting terrorism and extremism requires pooling resources and close collaboration with industry.".
The proposal by European security officials is to expand an existing Europol tool used to store information on Islamist extremist websites into a continent-wide “referral unit.” It will be presented to ministers from EU member state governments at a special meeting.
The new unit will be tasked with identifying terrorist and extremist online material and supporting investigations by law enforcement agencies.
Within the framework of the proposals, each country should indicate an authority/service that will cooperate with the new unit – it could be the competent department for prosecuting electronic crime/Internet security or a specialized unit that deals with this very subject.
The aim is for the Internet Referral Unit to be able to begin its operations from June 1, with funding from the member countries.
Source: naftemporiki.gr
