International Journal on Criminology Volume 7, Number 1, Winter 2019/2020 | Page 60

A (Guided) Tour of the Digital Wild West
2 - Cybercrime: A Lucid Diagnosis from the European Parliament
[Extracts from the European Parliament’s Report on the Fight
against Cybercrime (European Parliament, July 25 2017)]
• ... the 2016 IOCTA [International Organised Crime Threat Assessment] reveals
that cybercrime is increasing in intensity, complexity and magnitude,
that reported cybercrime exceeds traditional crime in some EU countries, that
it extends to other areas of crime, such as human trafficking, that the use of encryption
and anonymization tools for criminal purposes is increasing and that
ransomware attacks outnumber traditional malware threats such as trojans.
• ... there was an increase of 20 percent in the attacks on the Commission’s servers
in 2016 compared to 2015.
• ... devices connected to the Internet of Things (IoT), which include smart grids,
connected fridges, cars, medical tools or aids, are often not as well protected as
traditional internet devices and are thus an ideal target for cybercriminals ...
• the lines between cybercrime, cyber espionage, cyber warfare, cyber sabotage
and cyber terrorism are becoming increasingly blurred; [ ... ] cybercrimes can
target individuals, public or private entities and cover a wide range of offences,
including privacy breaches, child sexual abuse online, public incitement to
violence and hatred, sabotage, espionage, financial crime and fraud, such as
payment fraud, theft and identity theft as well as illegal system interference.
• ... a considerable number of cybercrimes remain unprosecuted and unpunished.
• ... growing links between terrorism and organized crime.
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