A new report regarding threats to cyber security was released earlier today by the European Police Office, commonly referred to as Europol. The 2016 Internet Organized Crime Threat Assesment (IOCTA) is available for download on their official website.
Cited by Top Tech News, he also said that the misuse of legitimate tools for internet anonymity and encryption had made it increasingly for law-enforcement agencies to prosecute criminals.
The IOCTA report covers a wide variety of topics. Types of malware, children-related internet threats, payment frauds, data breaches. It includes recommendations for both the general public and law enforcement to combat emerging cyber threats and predictions regarding tendencies in cyber crime and new developments in some information-stealing programs.
“A GROWING RANGE OF THREATS, FROM TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS TO TERRORISM, ARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY CYBER-FACILITATED, ” said Robert Wainwright, Europol’s director.
Ransomware, a type of software that infects a computer and threatens to delete its user’s data unless they pay a ransom, has become very popular among cybercriminals, the report states.
Europol’s commitment to cyber-security
Since its inception in 2013, the European Cyber Crime Centre (or EC3), a subdivision from Europol, has been actively involved in promoting cybersecurity policies across the globe. It currently supports EU members with “operational analysis, coordination, and expertise.”
It also serves as an outreach liaison for police departments to connect with the private sector when cyber crimes happen and aids with training and cyber security education, according to their homepage.
The threat of the ‘Darknet’
The ‘Darknet’ has been one of the most talked-about dangers of the internet in the 21st century and is reiterated as such in this new report. Many new tools are being used by cybercriminals to commit increasingly efficient scams and illegal transactions, and today, most of them are being handled on the Darknet.
Though the Darknet is usually referred to as one place in particular within the internet, a darknet can be any network that requires specific software to be accessed. A common belief is that the darknet is the same as the ‘Deep Web,’ but the former is only a part of the latter.
A darknet is comprised of many ‘dark networks’, sites that exist inside the darknet. The Deep Web is a significant portion of the Internet that is not indexed by search engines and therefore includes darknets and their dark webs.
Source: Top Tech News
