Romania, ranking seven in the world on cyber attacks, to host Council of Europe cyber-crime office

The Council of Europe is interested in opening an office in Bucharest dedicated to cyber-crime, following an offer by the Romanian authorities to host the unit. The Council of Europe is ready to respond positively to Romania's offer to host a Bucharest cyber-crime office, said Council of Europe Secretary General Thorborn Jagland (in picture, left) after talking to Romania's PM Victor Ponta (in picture,right), who is currently visiting the parliament in Strasbourg.

Romania ranks seven in the world as a source of attack traffic on the internet, according to news organization Bloomberg. With 2.8 percent of global cyber-attacks coming from Romania in the last quarter of 2012, the country sat between India in eighth place and Brazil in sixth. Bloomberg used information from Akamai Technologies, which supports businesses in providing high-speed content. The Secretary General described Romania as a “very active” member of the Council of Europe and that the country collaborates closely with the Council on many issues. He added that he would like to see Romania continuing to take on responsibilities in the future. Jagland said his recent visit to Romania had yielded very positive results, including the planned cooperation on the office to fight cyber-crime. Romania's PM is currently visiting the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France. As well as meeting various official, he has addressed the Council and taken questions. Last year's political crisis came up as discussion topic, although both the PM and representatives of the Council of Europe appeared confident that issue had already been satisfactorily solved. Romania's Ramnicu Valcea seems to be “a haven for cyber criminals,” reads the Bloomberg article, referring to what are described as “several news reports.” The town, which is also the capital of Valcea County, lies about 200km north-west of Bucharest, south of the Carpathian mountains. No reason is given why the small Romanian town in the foothills of the Carpathians is a favorite spot for hackers. Râmnicu Vâlcea is also the location of Romania’s beleaguered chemical factory Oltchim. See Bloomberg’s Top Ten Hacking Countries slide-show. editor@romania-insider.com