From Cartels to Crypto: Trends Show Disruptive Cybercrime Evolving Rapidly

Cybercrime has expanded well beyond traditional practices like credit card theft and identity fraud. We are now witnessing the emergence of a new era where sophisticated criminal networks,operating like enterprise structures with their own respective corporate divisions engage in a myriad of illicit online activities, from ransomware extortion and money laundering to international espionage and contraband. Let’s delve into the influential trends that mark this evolution.

A Lot More Nation-State Activity

To gain a tactical advantage over their opponents, almost every country has historically engaged in some form of intelligence operations to analyze and interpret enemy capacity, intentions, and vulnerabilities. These intelligence operations have shifted online. State-backed propagandists are known to disseminate disinformation to sow discord and influence political elections. Some state-sponsored actors aim at causing large-scale disruption to water, fuel, and power infrastructures. Nations like North Korea employed hackers to abscond $200 million in crypto to fund its nuclear ambitions. Nation-state threat actors are targeting large organizations like Microsoft, HP and UnitedHealth in a bid to weaponize their technology.

Democratization of Tools and Knowledge

There was a time when the business of cybercrime required a certain level of knowledge and aptitude, limited to a number of skilled hackers. Today, organized cybercrime gangs have lowered the barrier of entry by building cybercrime-as-a-service ecosystems where threat actors sell their expertise, tools, infrastructure and services to any party willing to pay. Knowledge sharing is not just occurring from high-level to low-level groups, it is also happening the other way around. Numerous “leak sites” are in existence, where stolen data is publicly disclosed with the aim of coercing the victim into paying a ransom.