Lower Saxony: Police use new software against cybercrime

In the future, the Lower Saxony state police will work with a cyberguide. This software is intended to help officers write targeted reports of cybercrimes and exhaust all possible immediate measures.

Assistance program for report writing

At its core, the software now being presented is an assistance program for the creation of criminal reports. The Lower Saxony police pointed out during the presentation that the program is primarily intended for police officers who do not usually deal with cybercrime. It offers them the possibility of writing a targeted report without in-depth specialist knowledge – and this is necessary in order to be able to initiate promising investigations. In addition, the program is supposed to automatically recognize all available immediate measures so that they are not not used out of ignorance. In the case of cybercrime, this often includes the reversal of unauthorized charges. If the officers handling the report are not aware of this option, it has not been used to date. This is where the assistance program is supposed to step in in the future. In this regard, the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior speaks of clever questions and an integrated pilot function.

Test phase successfully completed

The software was tested in eleven inspections in the state. It has now been in use throughout Lower Saxony since May. However, Interior Minister Pistorius dampened expectations of the assistance program in the process, saying it would not solve any cases, but would be an important aid. It was also pointed out that high-quality recording of reports often makes time-consuming follow-up investigations superfluous. Police work could thus become more effective.

According to the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior, the assistance program is primarily a reaction to the dynamics of cybercrime: Crime on the Internet is not only growing steadily, but is also developing at an enormous speed. There is evidence that the extent of cybercrime and the damage it causes are increasing. The program, which to all appearances is not overly ambitious technically and cost a mere 200,000 euros to develop, was commented on by Pistorius in this context as follows: “If criminals are taking advantage of the digital world, we too must develop creative and advanced digital methods to better investigate.” The project is better classified when viewed against the backdrop of the problems faced by German police forces: Within an organization that is overwhelmed with evaluating seized data, the introduction of a structured ad intake program actually seems almost revolutionary.

By all accounts, it is being well received by state police departments: The development team has already received inquiries from other countries expressing interest in the program, he said.