The Republic of Srpska

Today, in Banja Luka, the Republic of Srpska Police Director, Mr. Gojko Vasić, officially opened a two-day workshop whose name is ‘Types of cybercrime and cyber security solutions’, organized by the Republic of Srpska Ministry of the Interior with the assistance of the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument of the European Commission (TAIEX). At the opening of the workshop, Mr. Vasić said that the Republic of Srpska Ministry of the Interior had not only a good team for countering cybercrime, but also an excellent cooperation with security agencies around the world, even though this type of crime was not as much present in our country as it was in more developed countries. Additionally, he noted that the Republic of Srpska was not facing a huge number of typical criminal offences in the field of cybercrime, such as child pornography or credit card abuse, and that greatest damage was caused by infecting computer systems with viruses. ‘In cooperation with FBI and our colleagues from Great Britain, our unit implemented one such action. In this case, the amount of damage caused by viruses was 850 million dollars’’, Director Vasić said. Furthermore, he said that the team of the Republic of Srpska Ministry of the Interior was the bearer of an action in which police agencies from 38 countries were included. One of the results of this action was that numerous investigations were initiated in those countries. It is important to point out that provisions that define criminal offences in the field of cybercrime are a part of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Srpska. Also, the Republic of Srpska Ministry of the Interior formed a unit for countering this type of crime and requirements for educating staff are met. In addition, Director Vasić especially emphasized the activities related to prevention and raising awareness of children, adults and persons in responsible positions on the possible types of abuse of personal information and how to protect themselves as Internet users. In addition to the members of the Republic of Srpska Police, the workshop was attended by the representatives of other police agencies in BiH, Prosecutor’s Offices of the Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina, whereas the lecturers at the workshop came from Great Britain, the Netherlands, France and Germany.