Cyber-Crime on Steep Curve, says new Europol Report

Europol recently released the latest edition of the annual Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) report. The report uncovered a rising economy among cyber criminals.

The European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) at Europol produced the report. It provided information to decision-makers on tactical, policy, and strategic issues on the war on cyber crime. It emphasises three areas of crime: payment fraud, online child sexploitation, and cyber crime.

Europol said that the marital cost, scope, and volume of cyber crime are all trending upward and are at high levels.

Within the last 12 months, a substantial number of terrorist attacks have hit organisations across Europe. Europol emphasises the fact that hackers are making their services available to militant sectors, which would enable them to digitally attack Europe, although these groups have not yet utilised these services.

Rob Wainwright, director of Europol, said:

“The relentless growth of cyber-crime remains a real and significant threat to our collective security in Europe. Europol is concerned about how an expanding cyber-criminal community has been able to further exploit our increasing dependence on technology and the internet. We have also seen a marked shift in cyber-facilitated activities relating to trafficking in human beings, terrorism and other threats.”

The report refers to some highly concerning statistics that businesses throughout Europe should be aware of. If cyber criminals are thriving, businesses would be wise to develop a presence to keep up. Using cyber security consultants to bring in trained assistance would be the best move towards achieving that.