Unlock the Digest of the editor for free
The EU police officer has warned that criminal organizations are increasingly using artificial intelligence to organize attacks on behalf of hostile powers, so that an “unprecedented” safety challenge for national governments is set.
In its report on the threats of the organized crime that was published on Tuesday, Europol warned that criminals became ‘power of attorney’ in hybrid attacks such as sabotage allegedly committed by Russia and China.
“Geopolitical tensions have created a window for hybrid threat actors to exploit criminal networks as an interference -instruments,” EUROPOL, adding that this had a destabilizing effect on EU countries.
AI and other technologies such as blockchain or quantum computing have become a “catalyst” for crime, because they stimulate “the efficiency of criminal operations by strengthening their speed, reach and sophistication,” the agency said.
“Cyber crime is evolving into a digital arms race,” said Catherine De Bolle, executive director of the Europol. “AI-driven attacks are becoming more precise and devastating. Some attacks show a combination of profit motifs and destabilization, because they are increasingly being aligned and ideologically motivated.”
Cyber attacks were increasingly politically motivated and focused on governments and critical infrastructure instead of companies or individuals, performed by criminal groups on behalf of state actors such as Russia. Criminal actors used vulnerabilities, such as those created by government contractors, to break through secure systems, Europol said.
“We see a growing collaboration between criminal networks and actors who orchestrate hybrid threats, exploit geopolitical tensions and undermine our institutions,” said De Bolle, adding that crime was “accelerated by AI” and other technologies.
The use of AI by criminal gangs was a new development compared to the latest report from Europol published in 2021, when artificial intelligence was only mentioned once. The technology is used to make advanced malware that are used for cyber attacks, or to generate targeted messages to mislead victims, for example by simulating the voices of family and friends, writing styles or their images for fake live videos.
“By creating very realistic synthetic media, criminals are able to mislead victims, act as individuals and discredit or blackmail goals,” Europol wrote.
AI also “accelerated” fraud and helped criminals to access personal data, for example through automated phishing attacks. “The scale, variety, refinement and reach of online fraud schemes is unprecedented,” said Europol, with reference to strategies such as luring consumers to invest in dubious regulations, for example with cryptocurrencies, or to pay money to alleged romantic partners or victims of current conflicts or humanitarian.
The organization also warned that AI models generated the material of child abuse, which was increasingly being shared online in private forums and chats. De Bolle has previously called for the implementation of new EU rules to tackle online child abuse material by tackling coded message services such as WhatsApp, but they have blocked countries like Germany due to privacy problems.
Europol also warned that more traditional cross -border crimes such as smuggling immigrants, drugs, firearms and waste remained a serious problem, and violence that was related to organized crime increases in some countries, under mentioned, for example, attacks in Germany.
It said that “sharing the processes of these criminal activities are shifting more to the online domain, especially when it comes to recruitment, communication, marketing or retail, and relevant use cases from AI are on the horizon”.
Europol said that the various criminal activities generated ‘immense’ profit that were washed by illegal means and cryptocurrencies, but very difficult to restore – estimates that only 2 percent of the illegal revenues were seized.