SIRIUS project

SIRIUS Cross-Border Access To Electronic Evidence

The SIRIUS project was created by Europol in October 2017 as a response to the increasing need of the EU law enforcement community to access electronic evidence for internet-based investigations, as more than half of all criminal investigations today include a cross-border request to access electronic evidence (such as texts, e-mails or messaging apps). The SIRIUS project, spearheaded by Europol’s European Counter-Terrorism Centre and European Cybercrime Centre, in close partnership with Eurojust and the European Judicial Network, aims to help investigators cope with the complexity and the volume of information in a rapidly changing online environment, by providing guidelines on specific Online Service Providers (OSPs) and investigative tools; and sharing experiences with peers, both online and in person. Through continued collaboration with Eurojust and the European Judicial Network, the SIRIUS project is now also open to judicial authorities. The multidisciplinary SIRIUS community on the restricted platform on the Europol Platform for Experts has access to a wide range of resources, updated continually.

The SIRIUS community on the Europol Platform for Experts represents all 28 Member States and several third-party countries that have an operational agreement with Europol. Going forward, SIRIUS will continue to provide high quality trainings both through the CEPOL platform and in person, innovative tools to assist with online investigations, as well as up-to-date guidelines reflecting the latest changes in law enforcement policies of major online service providers. SIRIUS will build further on its strong partnership with Eurojust and the European Judicial Network, who provide a significant contribution to the judicial perspective of the project.

The SIRIUS Project has received funding from the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) under grant agreement No PI/2017/391-896. Europol is the sole beneficiary of this grant; Eurojust and the European Judicial Network offer their collaboration without being formal co-beneficiaries.

If you would like to get in touch, or if you would like to join the EPE, please contact sirius@europol.europa.eu. Please note that the SIRIUS platform on the EPE is restricted to law enforcement and judicial authorities.

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