As technology is advancing, we are getting new products like Smartphones, smart computers, smart TVs GPS devices, and more that makes our lives easy. But, it is not only us who are getting these new-tech (or high-tech) products to be used, cyber-criminals who can exploit loopholes in these products also use these products/technology for crime also are getting access to these products.
Europol has shared a document with the public which on Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (iOCTA) outline the future of cyber-crime and criminals using cyber prowess to commit crimes.
Europol is a Council of Ministers for Justice and Home Affairs, which is s responsible for the main control and guidance of Europol. It is European Union’s criminal intelligence law enforcement agency.
According to the report “Criminals are freely able to procure such services, such as the rental of botnets, denial-of-service attacks, malware development, data theft and password cracking, to commit crimes themselves.”
The report emphasizes on the need for a different approach to tackle cybercrime since new technology that is meant to protect citizen is also being utilized by criminals. The anonymisation techniques used in parts of the Internet, known as Darknets allow citizen to use them to protect privacy. But these “are also of primary interest to criminals that abuse such anonymity on a massive scale for illicit online trade in drugs, weapons, stolen goods, forged IDs and child sexual exploitation.”
That’s not all, the report further says “Best practices on how to rape, kidnap, murder and dispose of children’s bodies are also shared openly on Darknet forums” which could be a concern.
This report refers to the Internet Identity (IID) report from last year which says in year 2013 the predictions for 2014 (by the end of year 2014) “we will witness the first ever public case of murder via hacked Internet-connected device.”
The Independent revisited the prediction this year and said “the concept is behind the likely development of smart homes, cars and even cities, but police warned that the failure to protect devices properly could see them open to being hacked by outsiders to make money or to attack opponents.”
In its report on predictions for the 2015 the security “the once optimistic concept of the “Internet of Things,” where virtually everything electronic is conveniently connected to the Internet, will reveal its dark side. Malicious hackers will have the power to provoke chaos inside your home, burning your house down by hacking your oven to flood your house with gas and ignite it, or remotely turning off your security system to allow burglars inside.”