On 23 May 2016 this blog began with an article about organised crime on the internet, based on a 2015 Europol report aimed at assessing the threat posed by this kind of crime. Five months later, we are going to focus on the 2016 edition of this report, which now focuses on suggesting priorities for all EU security agencies, which stress four areas as objectives.

The first involves cyber-attacks, with the global objective of giving priority to actions taken against service and tool providers which serve as a base for other cybercrime targets. Persecution of developers, sellers and buyers of any harmful programme are particularly highlighted, as are suppliers of services to attack denial services [*] or services which neutralise an antivirus.

The second area concerns fraud related to payment systems. Priorities related to payment in person with a card (like developers who design gadgets to duplicate such cards) are differentiated from payments with cards on line (involving on-line payments to airlines, retailers and for accommodation), and the compromised data and financial credentials (like theft or illegally taking data).

As far as on-line sexual abuse of minors is concerned, priorities focus on rescuing victims and combating live transmission of abuse; eradicating groups which encourage the production of material aimed at sexually exploiting minors, especially on the hidden internet, and taking advantage of legal on-line proponents of ways of committing crimes linked to the sexual exploitation of minors.

The last area is that of transversal activities which facilitate criminal activity on the internet. In this case, the objectives are those people related to groups which buy and sell illegally on the Darknet, suppliers of solutions to make webpages anonymous or to place them illegally; services which transfer undeclared money or launder it, and the criminals who facilitate the illegal use of virtual money like bitcoins.

(*) Known by their initials in English DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service), they block systems or sites so that legitimate users cannot gain access which may occur due to a breakdown or saturation.

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