Organized crime has gone online in a big way, says Interpol’s outgoing Secretary General. Jurgen Stock, who headed the international law enforcement agency for the past decade, spoke to the AAPA on September 4, in the Blomberg auditorium.
Crime is big business, he told us, explaining the evolution of “crime as a service” — the sale of ransomware and other Internet software designed to commit financial crimes, or take online sites “hostage,” and effect “denial of service” to online customer sites. Interpol, he says, goes after the money in these cases, rather than the chief operators, because, “Criminals can be replaced; money is harder.”
Artificial Intelligence brings additional danger to online organized crime, Stock points out, as its increasingly sophisticated ability to mimic faces and voices facilitates fraudulent transactions. Referring to the arrest in France of Telegram owner Pavel Durov, Stock says he supports regulation that would hold platform owners and operators responsible for hosted content. And he’s concerned about the crime and violence stemming from far-right online sites.
Stock says today’s law enforcement officers don’t have sufficient training to fight cyber crime. When asked what subjects a student looking to pursue a career in crime fighting should study, he says, “Study AI!”