A new procurement for a website analysis tool to flag harmful content linked to crime and fraud highlights a wider shift towards digital forensics in the public sector.
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Police authorities are seeking a new website analysis tool to help them research and interpret harmful online content linked to crime and fraud. The move points to a shift towards more structured digital forensics in the public sector, as agencies look for ways to track criminal activity across an ever-expanding web landscape.
The Ministry of the Interior has issued a Contract Notice for services to develop a website analysis tool. Published on 19th January 2026, the notice describes a requirement for a system able to research and analyse websites that host harmful content related to criminal activities.
The stated purpose is clear: to improve detection and investigation efforts by police authorities. Rather than relying solely on manual browsing or ad hoc tools, the ministry wants a dedicated service that can focus on sites where criminal activity is planned, promoted or facilitated.
The description is high level, but it sets out three core functions the tool is expected to cover:
This is not an off-the-shelf software purchase. The ministry is procuring services to develop the tool, which implies significant tailoring to law-enforcement requirements. Suppliers will need to translate police investigative needs into technical features, interfaces and workflows that fit into existing systems.
Because the notice focuses on “researching and analysing” websites, rather than blocking or taking them down, the emphasis appears to be on intelligence and evidence-gathering rather than content moderation. The work could reshape how investigators identify and track harmful online spaces that may otherwise sit below the radar.
The ministry highlights harmful content linked to criminal activities, explicitly including fraud. That points towards websites that promote scams, coordinate illicit schemes or provide services that support wider criminal operations.
For police authorities, fraud is a particular challenge. Offenders can spin up and discard websites quickly, operating across borders and using multiple domains and hosting providers. A tool designed to research and analyse such sites can help investigators keep pace by systematising how they identify, catalogue and compare online evidence.
Tools of this kind can also support broader investigations. By putting structured analysis around website content, links and behaviour, police teams can move from one-off checks to repeatable processes. That in turn can make it easier to share findings between units, document investigative steps and revisit earlier material as cases develop.
The notice ties the work directly to detection as well as investigation. That suggests the ministry wants the tool to help surface new leads, not just support cases already under way. Even without detailed technical specifications, the direction of travel is towards more proactive, intelligence-led use of web data by police authorities.
This procurement does not stand alone. Over the past year, public-sector buyers in several countries have issued notices for systems that monitor digital environments, improve information analysis and strengthen cyber resilience.
In August 2025, the Ministry for Citizen Protection issued a Contract Notice titled Software Packages Procurement for its Directorate for Organized Crime Response. That project aims to enhance an information centre used in the fight against organised crime, with better networking and information analysis between departments and training for Greek Police personnel. While its focus is broader than website analysis alone, it shows law-enforcement bodies investing in tools that help them join up and interpret digital information.
Municipal authorities are making similar moves. In October 2025, the city district of Prague 1 launched a Cybersecurity Enhancement Tool procurement. That notice centres on acquiring and implementing a cybersecurity detection tool that can spot threats to information systems and networks, with support for advanced forensic investigation of incidents. Here, too, detection and forensics are treated as part of the same capability.
Beyond law enforcement, public bodies responsible for critical services are reinforcing their own defences. The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute’s Cybersecurity Infrastructure Supply notice from December 2025 sets out a plan to strengthen critical information infrastructure through new hardware and software, improve resilience against cyber threats and ensure compliance with cybersecurity legislation.
Skills and capacity also feature in this broader picture. In September 2025, the Cybersecurity Skills Enhancement Project sought services and equipment to analyse cybersecurity skill needs, assess maturity levels for key economic actors and create tools to boost capabilities across sectors. That project underlines that technology alone is not enough; public authorities are also looking at how people use and understand these systems.
There is also growing interest in website analysis outside a crime or security context. In November 2025, Norwegian health network Norsk Helsenett SF published a notice for a Website Quality Assurance Tool. That procurement focuses on ensuring websites operate properly and on gaining insights into traffic, showing how systematic web analysis is becoming part of routine public-sector operations.
Taken together, these notices suggest that the new ministry project is part of a broader trend: public bodies are commissioning tools that monitor and interpret digital environments, whether to detect cyber attacks, understand service performance or, in this case, track harmful content linked to crime and fraud.
For potential suppliers, the Contract Notice from the Ministry of the Interior signals a demand for specialist development work that bridges policing and web technologies. Providers will be expected to offer more than pure software engineering; they will need to understand investigative workflows, evidence requirements and the sensitivities around handling data on criminal activities.
Questions of governance will sit alongside technical delivery. A tool designed to research and analyse websites that host harmful content must support lawful investigations while respecting legal and ethical boundaries. Oversight bodies will want to know how data is collected, stored and accessed, and how the system’s outputs are used within police decision-making.
The ministry’s choice to contract for development services rather than a simple product purchase leaves room for the tool to evolve. As other public-sector projects in cyber detection, monitoring and analysis mature, there may be opportunities to align standards, share good practice and avoid duplication.
For now, the new website analysis tool stands out as a focused attempt to give police authorities better insight into harmful online content. Alongside recent investments in cyber defences, forensic tools and skills programmes across different sectors, it signals that digital investigation capabilities are moving closer to the centre of public-sector security strategies.
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