Europol Cybercrime Report Condems Bitcoin and End-to-end Encryption
Similarly to how most governments feel, Europol is not too keen on end-to-end encryption either. The report mentions how several cases of child abuse have been livestreamed over encrypted connections. Cybercrime is a threat of all ages, even though things seem to be getting progressively worse over time. Europol has issued a new warning against the mounting number of online crimes. At the same time, they are also concerned about the mounting number of opportunities for criminal gain. Bitcoin is, of course, mentioned as well. The number of threats posed by internet criminals has never been....
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The European Union's top law enforcement agency, Europol, is seeking an intern with the skills to trace bitcoin transactions, according to a job posting on its website. The posting seeks applicants for the 'Open Sources Collection and Analysis' project which will support Europol's Cyber Intelligence Team. Applicants should have skills in analysing bitcoin transactions and an interest in blockchain technologies in general. Among the technical skills that the role requires are: "[An] elementary understanding of tracing and attribution of bitcoin transactions and proven interest in blockchain....
Europol believes that militants can potentially use cybercrime as a service from the darknet to launch attacks on European nations. Software as a Service (SaaS) has been around for a while until the Bitcoin revolution introduced Blockchain as a Service (BaaS). Thanks to both, now we have Cybercrime as a Service. The emerging threat as got Europol concerned. According to recent reports, the European law enforcement agency has expressed its concerns about the increasing availability of cybercrime services for hire on the darknet. These services, run by hackers can be easily hired by anyone....
In its latest report called the Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment for 2015, Europol outlined the state of cybercrime threats in the European Union. The report mentions bitcoin and virtual currencies, claiming that it accounts for roughly 40% of criminal-to-criminal transactions online. This follows the agency's statement indicating that cryptocurrencies promote the crime-as-a-service business model, wherein bitcoin was highlighted for its role in facilitating money laundering. The cryptocurrency is known for its anonymous transactions, which Europol says makes it "heavily abused....
Europol and Interpol have agreed to work together on issues related to the criminal use of digital currencies. The partnership became official during this year's Interpol - Europol Cybercrime Conference, an annual gathering of international law enforcement officials, held in The Hague. The event, Europol said, drew more than 350 attendees. According to a statement from Europol, the partnership will see coordination "against the abuse of virtual currencies for criminal transactions and money laundering". The statement said: "[The partnership] will include actions around policy, stimulating....
Blockchain startup Chainalysis has signed a memorandum of understanding with Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) that will see the firms collaborating on efforts to fight online crime. The news comes as the firm closes a $1.6m seed funding round led by Point Nine Capital, with Techstars, Digital Currency Group, Funders Club and Converge VP also investing. Chainalysis, which is an official investigator for the creditors of collapsed bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, says the memorandum it has signed with Europol promotes collaboration and information sharing. The company suggested that the....