Detective Superintendent Pedro On Cybercrime
Detective Superintendent Nicholas Pedro, OIC Serious Crime Division, delivered the opening speech at today’s Cybercrime Seminar.
Speaking at the event, Detective Superintendent Nicholas Pedro said, “I have the awesome responsibility of leading our Crime Division, to lead on the strategic response to all criminal investigations, and ensuring we are meeting the needs of Bermuda and our partners.
“We are indeed happy to have you, our community partners here to discuss & hopefully share information on challenges in the cyber arena, especially in the midst of Covid-19.
“We are here today to discuss challenges, weaknesses, and indeed opportunities as a result of recent developments on the local front that I dare say prompt us to come together today.
“Bermuda holds a special and historical place on the international stage as an international financial centre of excellence.
“The 2019 CFATF assessment of Bermuda affirmed our compliance and capability in the arena of anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing.
“But as we will discuss, this comes at a cost. As we move into new economic opportunities with the proliferation of virtual [crypto] currencies, risk factors arise with the risk of money laundering, reputational risk for our jurisdiction, and the potential for lower credit ratings if we do not maintain our capability to investigate allegations where these systems are being abused to further criminality.
“Our financial investigators are tasked with following the money, identifying laundered proceeds, and seizing assets obtained from criminal conduct. This involves countless hours of investigation and analysis of quite often voluminous sets of data.
“Their objective is to seize and [with the courts directions], have these monies or assets forfeited to aid in criminal justice development.
“We have invested in a strong small team of digital forensic investigators who possess the skills necessary to deal with most levels of digital crime, but we also have access to our expertise at the U.K. National Crime Agency, the U.S Federal Bureau of Investigation, and also the Department of Homeland Security – just to name a few.
“Our criminal and financial investigators must maintain their skills with training and re-certifications to keep pace with global trends and issues. But the level of specialization required to engage in serious, complex financial cases also requires expertise.
“We are challenged from a budgetary perspective which is no secret. We continue to work with government to identify the posts and training that we must retain in order to keep compliant with international standards.
“Today, we will talk about the early signs of a newer level of sophistication in Bermuda.
“As you know, the Bermuda Police Service investigates all levels of crime, from the most minor of matters, up to & including major cross-border money laundering enterprises, deploying the most sophisticated methods to attempt to conceal their tracks.
“Our continuous challenge is to get, and maintain the necessary skill sets as the Police are [sadly] usually behind criminals who identify & implement new ways to commit crime.
“Whether it is analysts, digital forensic capability, or keeping our investigators trained & ready to address the most complex investigative challenges, we are continually trying to evolve to keep pace with local & global developments.
“This is important for Bermuda and Bermudians.
“Our recent 2019 success in the CFATF anti-money laundering assessment of Bermuda was testimony to our collective ability, but we must maintain and improve on this if Bermuda is to keep its standing as an international financial centre of excellence.
“I am delighted to hand you over to my colleagues in the Criminal Investigations Department, Digital Forensics, & Financial Investigation Units, who will talk to you today about these challenges.
“We welcome questions, input, and advice from each of you. We look forward to working with you on these issues and I am so very pleased you could be here today on this collaboration. Thank you so very much.”
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You have the worlds #1 CyberSecurity firm in Bermuda and the Police and Government won’t contract work out to them because they are a Bermudian company!