an international law enforcement operation. The operation was coordinated through Europol in The Hague, the Netherlands, INTERPOL in Singapore and Ameripol in Bogota, Columbia with support from Canadian and US law enforcement authorities. Increased commitment from law enforcement agencies, private sector and international organizations enabled the operation to be conducted at airports in twenty-five countries in Europe and twenty-four other countries in Asia, Australia, America and Africa. The operation against airline fraudsters is part of Operation Blue Amber, a series of international actions tackling organized crime in various locations across the world. Europol said it will continue to support EU Member States, working closely with the private sector and other international organizations, to improve security at the airports by fighting this type of online fraud. B. Jurisdictional Challenges As already mentioned, jurisdictional and cooperation issues frequently hinder investigation and prosecution.85 Law enforcement agencies are usually jurisdictionally restricted and therefore rely on foreign agencies or international agreements to pursue multinational cybercriminals and prosecute them.86 This problem is exacerbated in comparison to traditional crimes largely due to the transnational nature of not just the cyberspace but also of various internet actors, especially ISPs.87 Procedures for international cooperation also create obstacles. Extradition, mutual assistance, mutual assistance for provisional measures, trans-border access to stored computer data and communication networks for investigations are all problematic areas. Non-participation in crossjurisdictional information sharing agreements has far reaching consequences. For example, not being party to such an agreement may limit the ability of authorities to retrieve information and metadata, such as on cyberattacks their nature, extent and trend. Such difficulties are especially evident when the servers are physically located in foreign jurisdictions with either rigid or nonexistent laws.88 Case 1.6: United States v. Aleksandr Andreevich Panin (“SpyEye”)89 SpyEye is a prolific type of Trojan malware that is estimated to have infected more than 1.4 million computers, resulting in losses of at least US$5 million between 2009 and 2011. SpyEye was developed by Aleksandr Panin, a Russian programmer who was the primary developer and malware distributor, and Hamza Bendelladj, an Algerian hacker. ”One of the most professional and successful malware families”, SpyEye even offered buyers regular version updates and betas.90 The SpyEye code operated by secretly infecting victims’ devices, enabling cybercriminals to remotely control those devices through so-called Page 39 | Chapter 1 | § C. Challenges to Fighting Cybercrime Table of Contents