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9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 JULY 2025 NEWS Even data brokers in the criminal marketplace have a reputation to protect The Europol cybercrime threat assessment for 2025 lifts the lid on what is literally a criminal 'service industry' for wrongdoers IT talks about brokers, a service market, online reputation and maintaining buyers' trust but this is not a report on businesses and consumers penned by some economist. Instead, this is a report on the way organised crime is using the internet to steal personal and private data for financial, ideo- logical and disruptive purposes. Penned by Europol, an EU law enforcement agency, the report provides a glimpse into the world of cybercriminals and the tech- niques used to access and steal personal data. The report titled, Internet Or- ganised Crime Threat Assess- ment 2025, describes a veritable market with brokers at different levels of the supply chain, who market and sell their exploits to a host of criminals on the dark web. Europol describes this as a "crime-as-a-service" market. "A thriving part of the crimi- nal ecosystem revolves around selling access to compromised systems and accounts," the as- sessment reads. "Initial Access Brokers (IABs) are increasingly advertising these services, along with related commodities, on specialised criminal platforms used by a wide range of cyber- criminals." In a nutshell, IABs are those who have gained unauthorised access to data systems and sell the keys to others. But the eco- system also includes data bro- kers, who have acquired the in- formation and sell it—in either raw form or analysed—to other criminals. Social engineering and AI Europol says "social engineer- ing stands out" as a particular- ly prevalent technique used to access and steal personal data. Criminals exploit both system vulnerabilities and human over- sight. Unsuspecting victims are lured through devious means to hand over access to their personal or sensitive data. And the situation is becoming more complex with what Europol says is the "wid- er adoption" of large language models (LLMs) and other forms of generative artificial intelli- gence. "Cybercriminals may use AI for attack automation, social engi- neering and bypassing security measures, enabling more scal- able and complex attacks," the report states. The value of the stolen data lies in its ability to facilitate a wide range of criminal activities, Eu- ropol says, including cyber-at- tacks, online fraud schemes, sexual exploitation of children online, and extortion. "Demand for data is skyrocket- ing and its illicit trade is expected to become even more widespread in underground economies, con- tributing to the destabilisation of legitimate economies and the erosion of trust in governance structures," the report says. Europol says the illicit data ecosystem can also be exploited by intruders that use prolonged, stealthy, targeted cyberattacks to steal sensitive data. "By infiltrating secure systems, they can steal data of strategic importance for governments or businesses and provide hybrid threat actors with invaluable in- formation that can then be used for espionage, economic advan- tage or even coercion," Europol says. The stolen data can also be used to launch cyber-attacks against governments and critical infrastructure, resulting in wide- spread disruption and instability. Good reputation in the criminal marketplace Europol goes on to describe how the "criminal marketplace" and forums is driven by trust and an individual's reputation within the underground community. "Building an online reputation is essential for full engagement, including viewing restricted posts and access to all content. In some cases, a deposit may be required before newcomers can view any listings. For sellers of products and services, a good reputation and the implied trust that this engenders will ensure sales," the report says. It adds: "A solid reputation may also be valuable in case of dispute reso- lution." The hacktivist challenge Cybercrime investigators are being forced to navigate an in- creasingly complex environ- ment, where intelligence and law enforcement-like actions are also carried out by non-state actors. Europol sounds a cautionary note on the impact of activists, who use hacking as a means to further their agenda in favour of free speech, human rights and other causes. "While hacktivist data leaks po- tentially offer intelligence on ad- versaries, they create challenges in terms of validation, admissi- bility, and investigation interfer- ence," Europol says. It adds that online doxing, the act of publicly providing identi- fiable information about some- one, further complicates matters since it bypasses "legal due pro- cess" and potentially contami- nates evidence. The report proposes granting law enforcement agencies lawful access to end-to-end encrypted communication channels in co- operation with service providers and regulators. It also proposes establishing "clear and harmonised EU stand- ards" for retention and expedit- ed access to essential metadata and improve the effectiveness of cross-border investigations. Europol also calls for the pro- motion of "broad digital literacy, critical verification skills and re- sponsible online sharing practic- es" to empower individuals with the tools to mitigate online risks and adopt effective privacy man- agement in an era of data open- ness. KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Europol says "social engineering stands out" as a particularly prevalent technique used to access and steal personal data.