Enhancing tools and capabilities to fight advanced forms of cyber threats and cyber-dependent crimes

While cyber-attacks, notably ransomware and distributed denials or services, are getting more sophisticated, law enforcement officers need to develop strategies to gain a comprehensive knowledge of the numerous elements contributing to the attack (Virtual Private Networks - VPNs, Bulletproof Hosting – BPH, Remote Access Trojans – RATs, botnets, Dark Web platforms, crypto-ransomware, Criminal Phone Banks, Pseudonyms, Advanced Persistent Threat groups – APTs, Internet infrastructure abuse (e.g. DNS), etc.). Having in mind that these are offered today in a form of Crime-as-a-service for anyone willing to pay, there is growing number of cases where authorities have to launch and conduct advanced inquiries. Investigators need timely access to relevant data and expertise of a different nature and belonging to different categories of stakeholders (e.g. other Police Authorities or Internet service providers). As geographical boundaries become irrelevant in the commission of crime, criminal investigations have to become cooperative, joint actions. It does not seem feasible for a comprehensive investigation of contemporary organised crime to be conducted by a single investigator or even a single force. This technical and organisational complexity together with the cross-border nature of cyberattacks requires cutting-edge investigative approaches, gathering a large range of expertise as well as trusted information sharing mechanisms across communities (including secured platforms). In addition, it is necessary to enhance cybercrime intelligence picture notably by enhancing reporting mechanism of cyber-dependent criminal activities. Development of multi-stakeholders strategies, including novel investigation schemes and information sharing mechanisms, is necessary in order to enhance prevention and deterrence of these forms of cyber and cyber-dependent crime. Project should also investigate the legal background and identify any related shortcomings so lawful access and processing of subject data has a valid legal foundation.

Coordination among the successful proposals from this topic as well as with the successful proposal under HORIZON-CL3-2023-FCT-01-05: Crime as a service should be envisaged in order to avoid duplication and to exploit complementarities as well as opportunities for increased impact.