The Internet Organised Crime Threat assessment (iOCTA) 2017

Each year, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) produces the Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA), its flagship strategic report on ongoing developments and emerging threats in cybercrime — threats that impact governments, businesses and citizens in the EU.

There are three anti-cybercrime operational action plans under the European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats (EMPACT) cycle. The IOCTA focuses on the crime areas that fall under EC3’s mandate of Europol’s EC3:

+ Cyber attacks
+ Payment fraud
+ Online child sexual exploitation

It also addresses other areas of criminality that directly impact, or operate in parallel with, the crime areas above, such as money laundering and social engineering. It draws on contributions from:

+ experts at Europol
+ law enforcement authorities both within and outside the EU
+ partners in the private sector and academia.

Typically, the IOCTA will also highlight crime enablers that straddle more than one crime area and that require concerted and coordinated international law enforcement action, such as:

+ malware
+ bulletproof hosting
+ illegal trading sites on darknets
+ money muling and laundering services
+ criminal communications online

Other topics the IOCTA may cover include:

+ big data
+ the internet of things (IOT)
+ how cybercrime is distributed
+ debates around encryption
+ legislation on cybercrime
+ cybercrime and artificial intelligence (AI).The 2017 Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) reports how cybercrime continues to grow and evolve. While many aspects of cybercrime are firmly established, other areas of cybercrime have witnessed a striking upsurge in activity, including attacks on an unprecedented scale, as cybercrime continues to take new forms and new directions. A handful of cyber-attacks have caused widespread public concern but only represented a small sample of the wide array of cyber threats now faced.

• Primary Source

Europol: Activities and Services: Main Reports: Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (iOCTA) https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/main-reports/internet-organised-crime-threat-assessment#fndtn-tabs-0-bottom-1

Access this title via the EU Bookshop http://dx.publications.europa.eu/10.2813/55735

---