the Assessment Tool developed under this Project. Some concluding observations can be found
in chapter 8. The Toolkit also contains appendices regarding cybercrime cases, multilateral
instruments, national legal frameworks and the various assessment tools.
III. The Assessment Tool
The Toolkit, a reference resource on its own, provides a broad contextual background to the
Assessment Tool. The Toolkit and Assessment Tool should be read together.
The Assessment Tool follows the same general organization as the Toolkit and assesses
capacity readiness using some 115 indicators and is organized along the following nine
dimensions:
1 Policy Framework
6 Jurisdiction
2 Legal Framework
7 Safeguards
3 Substantive Criminal Law
8 International Cooperation
4 Procedural Criminal Law
9 Capacity-building
5 e-Evidence
IV. The Broader Context
While this Toolkit and the Assessment Tool look at capacity building to combat cybercrime primarily
from a legal perspective, it is recognized that combatting cybercrime is a part of a broader effort
to ensure cybersecurity. Accordingly, this Toolkit puts cybercrime in a broader cybersecurity
context. And while it is primarily legal, it also looks at the role of the private sector and technical
community, including CIRTs and the like,9 in combatting cybercrime. But because the Toolkit
mainly approaches combatting cybercrime from a legal perspective, every effort has been made to
illustrate the various aspects of cybercrime through the use of court cases. Almost by definition, if a
case ends up in the courts, it is because there is a disputed issue of law. These cases are referred to
and highlighted as “cases” in the text of the Toolkit. These cases are used throughout the Toolkit
but are also aggregated in appendix 9 A. Of course, not all issues, even if they involve criminal
activity, end up in the courts. Accordingly, not every aspect of combatting cybercrime is supported
by a case. However, the Toolkit also uses case studies to illustrate some aspects of combatting
cybercrime. These are referred to and included in “boxes” throughout the Toolkit. In its synthetic
approach, the Toolkit also attempts to include different legal systems.
As discussed above, and explored in more depth in sections 2 A and 2 B, the Toolkit has attempted
to include not only more “traditional” cybercrimes, but also “new” kinds of crime committed on or
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