With around 100 persons attending: including the newly appointed National Director of SEF Luisa Maria Goncalves; Major General Piers da Silva (GNR); the Director CCEMS, representatives from the Ministries of Justice and Internal Administration and Superintendent Jorge Mauricio Commander Lisbon Metropolitan Police (PSP), the seminar in Cascais organized by Safe Communities Portugal was a great success. Taking place at the Auditório do Centro Cultural de Cascais on 26^th January 2016, the event in English was opened by Dra. Maria do Céu Garcia, Deputy to the Mayor of Cascais, who gave an overview of the threat of cybercrime and the importance of addressing this issue.

With four expert speakers representing the Judicial Police, PSP, GNR and Safe Communities Algarve, “innovation” was the keyword in terms of new initiatives announced in tackling cybercrime. The threat of Cybercrime was explained by Chief Inspector Rodrigues Bravo the Judicial Police, who outlined the importance of prevention and educating the young in dealing with this global problem, as well as strengthening the laws to help law enforcement.

The GNR presenter Lieutenant- Coronel Paulo Jorge Soares Dos Santos, Chief of the Cybersecurity Taskforce in the operational command of the GNR, announced a number of new initiatives aimed at educating the young. He highlighted the importance of creating partnerships between all sectors in tackling cybercrime through the GNR Safer Internet Project aimed at enhancing awareness of young people, through engaging cooperation and collaboration between institutions.

He announced a new programme of awareness in schools, involving a “Cyber Challenge 2016” (www.ciber-challenge.pt) through competitions aimed at promoting relationships between different generations. He also announced the creation of a “Trust Network” involving knowledge sharing with opportunities for businesses in joining such networks to help bring this to fruition, through participation in education and training awards supply of equipment at other logistics. This innovative programme of cyber prevention was designed and is planned by GNR and the ICT Centre of Competences of “Mar e Serra”.  Safe Communities Portugal is a collaborating partner in this venture. Businesses who wish to know more should contact equipa@ccems.pt.

Inspector Carlos Correia covered the PSP strategy concerning the education of citizens, in particular their programs aimed at the elderly who were often targeted with various scams. This was based on the PSP close proximity model of anticipating problem and working towards a solution.

Jim Litchko a computer security analyst with over 30 years’ experience and a Board member of Safe Communities Portugal gave a presentation concerning a practical approach to computer security, with simple examples of how this can be achieved. This was followed by a panel discussion.

The two hour event was well received by the international audience, which included representatives from various Embassies, government, businesses and residents.

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