OSCE organizes training course on handling digital evidence by first responders in Central Asia
A five-day OSCE online training course on handling digital evidence by first responders for criminal justice practitioners from the five Central Asian OSCE participating States concluded on 1 October 2021. The course provided practitioners with an in-depth understanding on how to secure digital evidence and conduct basic online investigations.
The training course covered topics such as pre-search preparation, search and seizure, live data forensics, network investigations, open source intelligence gathering, and anonymity and criminality on the internet. It also included an integrated module on human rights compliance in the investigation and prosecution of cybercrime cases, with a tailored perspective on digital evidence.
The training course was delivered as part of the OSCE project, Capacity-Building on Combating Cybercrime in Central Asia, in close co-operation with OSCE field operations in the region. The aim of the project is to build sustainable national training capacities for police officers and prosecutors on combating cybercrime. The initiative has train-the-trainers as its core element, in which trainees are expected to organize and deliver, with the OSCE’s support, their own national training courses.
In the next few months, the project will also deliver a second train-the-trainer course as well as thematic training courses on investigating crimes facilitated by the use of Dark Web and virtual currencies, internet investigations and open source intelligence gathering with a focus on countering terrorism, and open source IT forensics and network investigations. The project is also developing OSCE Guidelines on Human Rights Compliance in Cybercrime Investigations, in close co-operation with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).