The Strategic Plan designed by the State Secretariat for Security focuses on prevention; on cooperation between the different State law enforcement agencies and legal operators; on the provision of sufficient and adequate capacities to structure responses adapted to the different forms of criminal offence; on collaboration with industry and major operators on cybersecurity matters in the public and private sector; and on strict respect for liberty, privacy and other fundamental rights.
Based on these principles, the Plan designs a global strategy to achieve the following specific goals:
- To promote a culture of prevention from cybercrime between citizens and business.
- To boost the training and specialisation of members of the State law enforcement agencies on cybersecurity and cybercrime matters.
- To increase and improve the use and provision of technological tools and implement them in the field of R&D+i.
- To suitably manage the information available in cyberspace.
- To promote a legal and institutional framework that offers a solution to the challenges that arise in relation to cybersecurity and cybercrime.
- To boost coordination at a national and international level and foster collaboration between the public and private sector.
To achieve these goals, the Plan provides for 49 lines of specific action, structured around six strategic pillars: the culture of preventing cybercrime, boosting capacities, the generation of cyber-intelligence, national coordination and international cooperation, the generation of a suitable regulatory framework and public-private collaboration.
Growth in cybercrime
Cybercrime around the world has undergone strong growth parallel to the increased development and use of information and communication technologies in all public and private areas. According to estimates from the European Commission, the cost of cybercrime to the global economy in 2020 was 5.5 trillion euros, thus amounting to the largest illegal transfer of wealth - higher than that generated by drug smuggling on a global scale.
According to the data handled by the Ministry of Home Affairs, a total of 83,058 actions related to cybercrime came to light in 2015, a figure that had risen to 218,302 by the end of 2019, a 162.8% increase in just five years. While cybercrime only accounted for 4.1% of all known criminal conduct in 2015, by the end of 2019 this rate had risen to 9.9%.
The Strategic Plan to Combat Cybercrime will provide the Ministry of Home Affairs with the necessary resources to tackle this situation in five areas of action: detection, prevention, protection, response and prosecution, as well as the adequate support for victims.
In designing the Plan, drawn up under the leadership of the Cybersecurity Coordination Office (Spanish acronym: OCC), senior officers, specialists, officials and experts from the National Police and Guardia Civil, from regional police forces, from the General Council of the Judiciary, from the Public Prosecutors Office, from the General Council of Spanish Lawyers, from the CCN-CERT and INCIBE-CERT, from the Counter-terrorism and Organised Crime Intelligence Centre (Spanish acronym: CITCO), from the National Centre to Protect Infrastructures and Cybersecurity (Spanish acronym: CNPIC) have all participated, along with universities, banks and other private institutions.
Approved by the Executive Coordination Committee (Spanish acronym: CECO) of the Ministry of Home Affairs on 18 February 2021, the Plan came into force on Tuesday with the publication of Instruction 1/2021 of the State Secretary for Security, Rafael Pérez Ruiz, in the General Order of the Directorate-General of the Police and in the Official Gazette of the Guardia Civil.
Following its publication, all of the management centres and bodies of the Ministry of Home Affairs with jurisdiction over cybercrime have four months to present their corresponding operational action plans. The measures and actions provided for in the Strategic Plan to Combat Cybercrime will have a provision of 1 million euros for the 2021 budgetary year.
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