What the cybercrime landscape looks like: overview from the IOCTA 2024 Report

Europol has recently released the Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) 2024 reporting the rapidly evolving threats of cybercrime across the EU. The IOCTA underlines the rise in sophistication and diversification of cybercrime, especially mentioning the growth of ransomware, online fraud, and child sexual exploitation.

The report reveals that the use of artificial intelligence in cybercrime is surging, allowing social engineering to be done more efficiently, while increasingly sophisticated tools for committing cybercrime can be developed. AI-aided crimes, such as using Large Language Models to develop phishing scripts, or AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM), are on the rise complicating efforts to combat online child exploitation.

Dark web remains a significant enabling platform for cybercrime, aiding and abetting criminals in trading tools, services, and knowledge internationally, while hiding from law enforcement. Yet, in spite of serious efforts at disruption, dark web marketplaces resurface quickly upon takedowns of marketplace sites.

Cybercrime is also extensively used with respect to cryptocurrencies. Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) continues to dominate, with attackers increasingly using “double extortion” tactics—encrypting data and threatening to release it unless paid. As with other forms of cybercrime, the complexity of cryptocurrency-linked criminal ventures is growing even in the context of investment fraud or money laundering schemes.

The report highlights the need for cooperative capacity improvements among law enforcement agencies with strong technical and human capacities to disrupt these emerging threats. According to the 2024 IOCTA, cybercrime is not only a functional challenge but also a societal challenge when millions of people and businesses across the EU are affected.

Source: Europol (2024), Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) 2024, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, https://www.europol.europa.eu/publication-events/main-reports/internet-organised-crime-threat-assessment-iocta-2024 (Accessed on 02.10.2024)

Author(s): Livia Di Bernardini, Project Manager, AGENZIA PER LA PROMOZIONE DELLA RICERCA EUROPEA

Keywords: Cybercrime, Artificial Intelligence, Dark Web, Ransomware, Law Enforcement