The new head of the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned that hostile states are increasingly cooperating with organized cybercrime groups.
Graham Bigger made the comments as part of his first public address as the agency’s secretary to initiate the National Strategic Review.
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He warned of “new links” between the major organized crime groups the NCA is tasked with stopping and state activities in cyberspace.
“North Korea has been using cybercrime to steal funds and more recently cryptocurrencies for some time. , had ties to oligarchs and their supporters,” Bigger explained.
“But over the past year, we have begun to see hostile states beginning to use organized crime groups (not necessarily of the same nationality) as proxies. This is a development by us and our colleagues at MI5 and CT. . [counter-terrorism] Police are closely monitoring
The links between nation-states and cybercriminal groups came to light in last year’s HP report. The report argued that the latter could be used to strengthen plausible denial of attacks while also providing state-sponsored hackers with off-the-shelf attack tools. use. In some cases, some state agents are even allowed to operate for their own benefit, the paper added.
Bigger argued that cyber played a big role in enabling crime in the UK last year, with the threat of online fraud and ransomware being particularly acute.
Fraud is now the most common type of crime in England and Wales, accounting for 41% of all crimes, with 40 million victims by 2022, according to ONS figures cited in the NCA report. It says.
“The Internet has allowed fraud to occur on a large scale and anonymously from abroad. “We are doing it,” argued Biggar.
“Generative AI is also being used to increase the believability of fraudulent activity through the use of better deepfake videos and ChatGPT to craft more convincing phishing emails.”
He also accused online cybercrime marketplaces of helping perpetuate both fraud and ransomware, accusing the ransomware-as-a-service model and double extortion giving criminal organizations the edge. bottom.
About 84% of ransomware incidents reported to Action Fraud in the 2021-2022 fiscal year were created by organizations, according to the National Fraud Center.
“The impact of such an attack can be significant, but the solution is simple. Basic cybersecurity can defeat most attacks, and it is important that all organizations invest in it.” said Bigger.
