About GPEN

The Global Prosecutors E-Crime Network (GPEN) was launched in 2008 with the aim of assisting all countries to establish a safe and secure online environment for users, by ensuring that prosecutors have the tools to deal effectively with cyber-crime. Under the umbrella of the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) GPEN aims to:

  • Enhance international cooperation in the e-crime arena which will be of benefit to all member countries;
  • Improve the exchange of information, reducing duplication and significantly raising analytical and prosecuting capacity across national borders;
  • Enable all jurisdictions to develop a coordinated approach for dealing with e-crime that supports effective prosecutions and promotes the Cybercrime Convention. The proposed network will not compete with the 24/7 protocol or normal mutual legal assistance. E-crime specialists nominated as a country's point of contact will be responsible for any necessary domestic liaison;
  • Provide a global training forum with resources and expertise from around the world. The training of prosecutors to prosecute e-crime cases is a priority area for international efforts against cybercrime. The network will develop appropriate training courses to train prosecutors who will be able to train their colleagues; and
  • Enable prosecutors around the globe to exchange crucial information and data quickly and efficiently.

Find out more about the history of GPEN

How GPEN works

GPEN is a network of specialist e-crime prosecutors and each IAP organisational member nominates at least one prosecutor to be registered as the GPEN national contact point.

The GPEN network provides:

  • a database of nominated e-crime prosecutors from around the world;
  • a forum for the exchange of expertise, queries and advice;
  • a collection of e-crime prosecution resource material, for example; national legislation and legal guidance;
  • a virtual Global E-Crime Prosecutors' College, a database of e-crime training courses and presentations; and
  • a global community of e-crime prosecutors sharing expertise and experience.

The global e-crime prosecutor's network will not only encourage enhanced international cooperation in the e-crime arena; but it will also enable all jurisdictions to develop a co-ordinated approach for dealing with e-crime that supports effective prosecutions. It will also present an opportunity to purvey the principles of the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention which is the only transnational instrument on this issue.

Please visit the GPEN forum. We want to hear about your experience and expertise prosecuting cybercrime. In the secure GPEN forum you can load up training material, documents, news stories, case studies and anything else of interest to the GPEN community.

Please note: To access the GPEN forum, library or training materials you need to log in with your International Association of Prosecutors user name and password

GPEN logo

GPEN Vision

GPEN was established with ambitious aims as the main conduit for the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) to promote the prosecution of cybercrime with the vision that it would:

  • promote training around the prosecution of e-crime, heighten awareness, spread good practice and encourage links with industry;
  • enable a focus on training and collating best practice;
  • become a downstream virtual training organisation and centre of excellence for best practice in the investigation and prosecution of cybercrime; and
  • have a permanent secretariat of interested participating countries who should take a lead on an annual basis to allocate resources. There would need to be a five-year rolling buy in for continuity to make this worthwhile.