Europol identifies eight main cybercrime trends
The volume, scope and material cost of cybercrime all remain on an upward trend and have reached very high levels. Some EU Member States now report that the recording of cybercrime offences may have surpassed those associated with traditional crimes.
An expansion both in the number of cybercriminal actors and opportunities to engage in highly profitable illegal activities has partly fuelled this trend, as has the development of new cybercrime tools in areas such as ATM fraud and mobile malware. However, a large part of the problem relates to poor digital security standards and practice by businesses and individuals.
A significant proportion of cybercrime activity still involves the continuous recycling of relatively old techniques, security solutions for which are available but not widely adopted.
“The relentless growth of cybercrime remains a real and significant threat to our collective security in Europe. Europol is concerned about how an expanding cybercriminal community has been able to further exploit our increasing dependence on technology and the Internet,” said Europol’s Director Rob Wainwright.
“We have also seen a marked shift in cyber-facilitated activities relating to trafficking in human beings, terrorism and other threats. In response law enforcement authorities have increased their skill-sets and their capability to work together in platforms such as the European Cybercrime Centre at Europol, but the growing misuse of legitimate anonymity and encryption services for illegal purposes remain a serious impediment to the detection, investigation and prosecution of criminals,” Wainwright concluded.
The Head of the European Cybercrime Centre, Steven Wilson said: “2016 has seen the further evolution of established cybercrime trends. The threat from ransomware has continued to grow and has now expanded into sectors such as healthcare. Europol has also seen the development of malware targeting the ATM network, impacting cash services worldwide. Online child sexual abuse continues to be a very high priority for all countries, with international cooperation established as a significant part of the strategy to protect children and identify victims. However there are many positives to be taken from this year’s report. Partnerships between industry and law enforcement have improved significantly, leading to the disruption or arrest of many major cybercriminal syndicates and high-profile individuals associated with child abuse, cyber intrusions and payment card fraud, and to innovative new prevention programmes such as the no more ransom campaign.”
Eight cybercrime trends from Europol’s 2016 Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA)
Crime-as-a-Service – The digital underground is underpinned by a growing Crime-as-a-Service model that interconnects specialist providers of cybercrime tools and services with an increasing number of organised crime groups. Terrorist actors clearly have the potential to access this sector in the future.
Ransomware – Ransomware and banking Trojans remain the top malware threats, a trend unlikely to change for the foreseeable future.
The criminal use of data – Data remains a key commodity for cyber-criminals. It is procured for immediate financial gain in many cases but, increasingly, also acquired to commit more complex fraud, encrypted for ransom, or used directly for extortion.
Payment fraud – EMV (chip and PIN), geo-blocking and other industry measures continue to erode card-present fraud within the EU, but logical and malware attacks directly against ATMs continue to evolve and proliferate. Organised crime groups are starting to manipulate or compromise payments involving contactless (NFC) cards.
Online child sexual abuse – The use of end-to-end encrypted platforms for sharing media, coupled with the use of largely anonymous payment systems, has facilitated an escalation in the live streaming of child abuse
Abuse of the Darknet – The Darknet continues to enable criminals involved in a range of illicit activities, such as the exchange of child sexual exploitation material. The extent to which extremist groups currently use cyber techniques to conduct attacks are limited, but the availability of cybercrime tools and services, and illicit commodities such as firearms on the Darknet, provides opportunity for this to change.
Social engineering – An increase of phishing aimed at high value targets has been registered by enforcement private sector authorities. CEO fraud, a refined variant of spear phishing, has become a key threat.
Virtual currencies – Bitcoin remains the currency of choice for the payment for criminal products and services in the digital underground economy and the Darknet. Bitcoin has also become the standard payment solution for extortion payments.