|
|
|
|
MEDIA DEPARTMENT |
|
|
Media Advisory |
|
|
Global cybercrime experts meet at Council of Europe conference marking 25 years of the Budapest Convention Conference to examine lessons from the Convention’s implementation and emerging challenges in the fight against cybercrime Strasbourg, 07.10.2026 – Around 500 cybercrime experts from more than 100 countries, international organisations, the private sector, academia and civil society will meet in Strasbourg from 14 to 16 October for the Council of Europe’s 2026 Octopus conference, marking the 25th anniversary of the Convention on Cybercrime (also known as the “Budapest Convention”). The conference will provide a global platform to reflect on 25 years of implementation of the Convention, its contribution to international cooperation and the challenges facing cybercrime frameworks in the years ahead. The conference will be opened by the Council of Europe Secretary General, Alain Berset, and Monaco’s Secretary of State for Justice, Samuel Vuelta Simon. The impact of artificial intelligence on cybercrime, trafficking and scam compounds, and cooperation with online service providers, in the context of the Convention’s second additional protocol and the EU e-evidence framework, will be discussed. Workshops and other sessions will explore disinformation and foreign manipulation, transnational repression, cyber-enabled international crimes, AI-generated child sexual abuse material, non-consensual dissemination of intimate images, and the illegal use of virtual assets. Regional workshops will bring together participants from Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Pacific and the Caribbean, alongside lightning talks highlighting innovative ideas and practical experiences. The conference will also provide a forum for dialogue between public and private stakeholders and for international partners to share initiatives and approaches to strengthening cooperation against cybercrime. Over 25 years, the Convention has helped shape cybercrime legislation and international cooperation worldwide, while informing subsequent initiatives, including the United Nations treaty on cybercrime. The conference is organised in cooperation with the Presidency of Monaco of the Committee of Ministers, under the leadership of the Octopus Project. It is also supported by the Council of Europe’s Cybercrime Programme Office (C-PROC), which assists countries worldwide in strengthening criminal justice responses to cybercrime and electronic evidence based on the Convention and its additional protocols. New Council of Europe treaty to strengthen criminal asset recovery On the occasion of the conference, the Additional Protocol to the Convention on laundering, search, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime and on the financing of terrorism (the “Warsaw Convention”) will be opened for signature (Wednesday 14 October, 12.30 p.m., Committee of Ministers’ lobby). The new treaty modernises asset recovery frameworks to address increasingly sophisticated and transnational criminal networks, strengthening authorities’ ability to confiscate criminal assets, including crypto-assets. The conference is open to the press from 9 a.m. to 12 noon on Wednesday 14 October and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday 16 October for the opening and closing sessions. Media representatives are invited to submit an accreditation request online. |
|
|
Press contact Estelle Steiner, Media and Communications Advisor, Tel. +33 3 88 41 33 35 |
|
|
Council of Europe, Media Department |
|
