Cybercrime/online crime

INNOVATION: A new Winston Churchill Trust report exploring the international policing responses to cybercrime, written by Queensland Police Service Detective Chief Inspector Michael Newman, has highlighted a range of learning opportunities and practical takeaways around prevention, detection, investigation, and capability to improve Australia’s law enforcement efforts to target cybercriminals, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: With terrorist and extremist groups looking increasingly to online platforms as a way to radicalise internet users – particularly young people – the European Commission’s Prevention of Radicalisation Unit is working hard to counter their activities; in this second in a two-part interview, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth spoke to Unit Policy Officer Friederike Wegener about the EC’s efforts to tackle the online terror threat, the role and impact of legislation, and the challenges of the future.

INTERVIEW: With terrorist and extremist groups looking increasingly to online platforms as a way to radicalise internet users – particularly young people – the European Commission’s Prevention of Radicalisation Unit is working hard to counter their activities; in this first in a two-part interview, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth spoke to Unit Policy Officer Friederike Wegener about her work with the team, the priorities of her role, and the current online terrorist threat.

FEATURE: A new Europol and Eurojust report on the challenges of tackling cybercrime has highlighted the huge volumes and difficult access to data, increasingly sophisticated anonymising measures deployed by criminals, and the legal and logistical difficulties of cross-border investigations as some of the key barriers for law enforcement, despite the “progressive strides” made by agencies and governments to address the issues, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: With the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) making the technology both more available and easier to use, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at law enforcement efforts to tackle AI-generated online child sexual abuse material – including last month’s success of Operation Cumberland, involving European, UK, Australian and New Zealand forces – as well as EU steps to tackle other damaging AI-generated online content.

FEATURE: Last month saw joint calls from the National Police Chiefs’ Council, College of Police and Counter-Terrorism Policing for UK policing to be given more freedom to share details around investigations that could help to quell the online misinformation fuelling violence and disorder; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the challenges around sharing of information, as well as the artificial intelligence tools that can help to tackle misinformation.

ANALYSIS: New laws proposed by the UK Government will be the first in the world to make it an offence to possess, create or distribute AI tools designed to generate child sexual abuse material; Simon Bailey, Chair of the International Policing and Public Protection Research Institute (IPPPRI), and IPPPRI Director, Professor Sam Lundigran, explain why the new laws will be crucial in the fight against the growing scale of AI-generated online child abuse images.

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OPINION: With the growing availability and accessibility of generative artificial intelligence leading to a huge increase in deepfaked non-consensual intimate image (NCII) abuse, independent policing and technology expert Giles Herdale sets out some of the key challenges around tackling NCII, and suggest four steps that could make a significant difference in reducing offences and improving outcomes for victims.

FEATURE: A new report on future trends in online fraud, part of a research project carried out by Crest Advisory, the Police Foundation and the Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London, warns that the growing use of artificial intelligence could trigger an “arms race” between criminals and law enforcement, and calls for a shift from reactive to anticipatory strategies to tackle online fraud, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: The latest National Cyber Threat Assessment for Canada highlights the increasing cybercrime risk posed by state actors such as China, Russia and Iran, as well as the growing prevalence of criminals using the cybercrime-as-a-service business model, with ransomware signposted as the top cybercrime threat facing the country’s critical infrastructure, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

INTERVIEW: The Chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce – the organisation now consisting of 15 law enforcement agencies tackling online child sexual exploitation – passed from the UK’s National Crime Agency to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in November; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to AFP Commander Helen Schneider about the goals for the Taskforce over the next three years, and why identifying AI deepfakes and protecting the wellbeing of police investigators will be among the priorities.

ANALYSIS: This year’s high-profile National Crime Agency takedown of the LockBit ransomware group, and the subsequent Endgame global cybercrime operation, was hailed as an example of successful law enforcement international collaboration; but IÉSEG School of Management professors Christine Abdalla Mikhaeil, Carin Venter and Jennifer Ziegelmayer warn that with many new players stepping into the ransomware market – and LockBit’s revival – greater international collaboration will be needed in the future.

FEATURE: A recent Europol-supported cross-border operation targeting VAT fraud saw accounts containing more than €520 million frozen, hundreds of properties seized, and at least 200 people investigated; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the efforts of law enforcement to tackle organised crime’s increasing involvement in cyber-enabled fraud.

FEATURE: A report from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change warns that UK’s current policing model is “fundamentally ill-suited” to tackling the huge threat of serious and organised crime, and urges the Government to establish a single UK-wide police force to lead on all crimes and threats that cross force boundaries, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: At this year’s APCC-NPCC Partnership Summit, where science and tech issues were once again high on the agenda, City of London Police Commissioner Pete O’Doherty argued for policing to become more offensive in its efforts to ensure cyber security; senior leaders also made the case for a stronger national approach to tech, and a survivor of deepfake abuse described how the police response to her crime left her “completely broken”, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: The Australian Federal Police’s recent Operation Kraken targeted organised criminals who were using the Ghost encrypted app, and among those arrested was a senior syndicate member believed to have run a disinformation campaign; Dr John Coyne and Liam Auliciems of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) warn that, with the demand for disinformation activities growing, the threat posed by fee-for-service organised criminals needs to be addressed.

FEATURE: The EU’s Terrorist Content Online Regulation came into effect in June 2022, and included a requirement for media platforms and host service providers (HSPs) to take down terrorist content within an hour of receiving a removal order from a ‘competent authority’; but a new report suggests that a lack of technical expertise and awareness leaves many smaller HSPs struggling to comply with the Regulation, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth explains.

INTERVIEW: Despite new legal provisions and the best effort of law enforcement agencies, the online terror threat persists, with increasingly sophisticated propaganda campaigns recruiting and radicalising teenagers to terrorist causes; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth spoke to international expert Laurence Bindner, co-founder of the JOS Project, about the challenges of tackling online terrorism and the current threat landscape.

ANALYSIS: New research from the University of Liverpool working with three English police forces has highlighted that officers’ unmanageable workloads, insufficient training and lack of understanding of digitally enabled coercive control are leading to missed opportunities in investigating potential perpetrators and protecting victim-survivors, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Every seven minutes a child is faced with harmful online content but as the threat grows, law enforcement is still playing catch up in its awareness of the risk the Metaverse poses to child safety. Policing Insight's Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports on new research led by Professors Julia Davidson of the University of East London and Elena Martellozzo of Middlesex University that is seeking to redress the balance.

FEATURE: Terrorist organisations are turning to small hosting service providers (HSPs) with less capacity and capability to prevent the spread of extremism on their platforms. Policing Insight's Andy Staniforth reports on TATE, an initiative specifically designed to help HSPs remove terrorist content quickly.

FEATURE: The widespread UK public disorder fuelled by online hate and misinformation in the wake of the murder of three young girls led to the jailing of a number of people for stirring up racial hatred in online messages; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the HATEDEMICS initiative which uses artificial intelligence to hamper the spread of hate speech, disinformation and conspiracy theories.

OPINION: Amid concerns that the recent riots in the UK were fuelled by misinformation spread on social media, some have questioned whether the Online Safety Act passed last year needs to be revisited; however, Associate Professor Dr Olivia Brown and Postdoctoral Researcher Dr Alicia Cork of the University of Bath argue that with parts of the Act not due to come into effect until late 2024, the effectiveness of the legislation won’t be fully understood until it has been tested in another situation like the recent riots.