The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has set out to teach Uzbekistan’s law enforcement officers cryptography and dark web investigation methods. The regional agency recently held a training course in Tashkent for officials of the country’s security agencies.
Uzbekistan’s police and security agents attended an OSCE course on cryptocurrency
Representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the State Security Service attended a training course on cryptocurrency anddark webinvestigationsheld by the OSCEin the capital Tashkent from October 17 to 21.
The course was organized by the OSCE International Threats Department in cooperation with the OSCE Project Coordinator in Uzbekistan and the Academy of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the intergovernmental security agency said on its website.
“Participants learned about key concepts and major trends in the areas of internetworking, anonymity and cryptography, cryptocurrency, obfuscation techniques, the dark web, and the Tor network,” the announcement detailed.
The students also practiced a variety of approaches and techniques, including crypto asset seizure, blockchain analysis, and darknet searches. The course was based on materials provided by the European Cybercrime Training and Education Group (ECTEG).
The new computer classroom donated by the OSCE to the Prosecutor General’s Academy was inaugurated before the course by Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prosecutor General Erkin Yurdashev and Hans Ulrich Yim, acting OSCE project coordinator in Uzbekistan.
Crypto Training in the Region to Continue Through the Next Year
Digital technology is transforming the criminal landscape, Evgeniy Kolenko, who heads the Prosecutor General’s Academy, points out. He argued that a long-term, systematic approach to law enforcement education in this area is needed.
Gayrat Musaev, head of the Information and Communication Technology and Information Security Division of the Academy of Prosecutors, added that “education in cybercrime requires adequate equipment, both in hardware and software.” Musaev also praised the new Dark Web Lab.
The OSCE course is the first to be conducted in Uzbekistan under the second phase of the “Capacity Building on Combating Cybercrime in Central Asia” project funded by the United States, Germany, and South Korea. Similar training activities will continue throughout the region throughout 2022 and 2023.
This year, the Tashkent government is taking steps to more comprehensively regulate the crypto sector in Uzbekistan. In the spring, President Shavkat Mirziyev issued a decree defining terms such as crypto assets and exchanges; in June, new registration rules for crypto miners were presented; and in October, a monthly fee for crypto companies was introduced.
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