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World Market Darknet Is Crucial To Your Business. Learn Why!
The shift in the perspective of an intelligence agency on the issue of crypto criminals can be the next thing to an investigation that is successful.
Although the price of cryptocurrency has fluctuated wildly over the past year, this does not mean that it is less attractive to criminals. Many are moving their criminal activities underground and out of the reach by law enforcement. Because of the open nature of most blockchains, however, this rapid movement isn't a big concern for law enforcement authorities. With the right equipment and the proper training monitoring the proceeds of crime that is facilitated by crypto isn't as difficult as it may seem.
However, intelligence organizations must have a cryptocurrency investigation plan that has the proper tools to legally collect digital evidence, as well as the trained personnel to investigate these types of crimes whenever they happen.
Digital Intelligence (DI) is an expression of two parts: the data gathered from digital sources as well as data types (think smartphones computers, computers, and the cloud) and the ways in which agencies access, manage and gain insights from that data to conduct investigations effectively. To help law enforcement investigate crypto-related security incidents, it must be equipped with the right tools and knowledge for these investigations. When investigators know what they're looking for and have the appropriate tools and knowledge to analyse and follow clues, crypto begins to look not as an "invisible" web and more like the DI operations that investigators are used to.
According to an investigation into the enforcement of cryptocurrency of the United States Attorney General's Cyber-Digital Task Force within the Department of Justice, crypto-based crimes fall into three categories:
1. Making use of cryptocurrency to fund crimes
Bitcoin (BTC) has been thrust into the media due to of a number of high-profile, international criminal cases connected to the darknet in 2013. In 2013, Bitcoin was the sole form of currency on the dark web. After several successful government seizures, anti-regulatory computer developers created Monero (XMR), Dash, Zcash (ZEC) and other privacy coins that were designed to obscure the public ledger. This makes it more difficult for law enforcement agencies to track and capture assets.
Legal businesses generally do not make use of the darknet to market products and services, however that does not mean legitimate goods are not offered through the darknet. Stolen goods, counterfeit products and copies of software that have stolen activation keys are easily discovered and are sold at a steep discount.
Companies also have the threat of theft of personal information. Selling bank accounts, employee records, customer records and proprietary data is among the most lucrative ways that criminals earn money through the darknet. In the year 2019, the crypto intelligence company CipherTrace found an average of 66% products and services offered by darknet companies during the year were derived from stolen payment instruments of financial institutions that had been compromised.
The easiest and fastest way to identify criminals is through advanced crypto trackers and analytics software.
2. Laundering money and concealing financial activities
When criminals make money through illegal activities such as sales of drugs, fraud, human trafficking, or weapons trafficking it is necessary for them to find a way to convert the illicit funds so that they appear legitimate. This is known as "money laundering."
Because of its simplicity of use, and pseudo-anonymity crypto-money laundering is fast becoming a popular method of transfer and laundering of money. In just a few minutes crypto-currency can be moved across the world market Url or converted into another cryptocurrency or traded for real assets.
3. Crimes involving crypto and crypto
Certain crypto criminals prefer to focus their efforts on cryptocurrency consumers and exchanges.
In 2018, three North Korean military hackers -and indicted February 2021 -- stolen and extorted more $1.3 billion of fiat currency and cryptocurrency from banks and businesses. As the Assistant Attorney General John Demers said:
"North Korea's operatives, using keyboards rather than masks and guns, are the world's leading 21st-century nation-state bank robbers."
In 2020, nearly $1.5 billion of the money was lost because of misappropriation and fraud, in the CipherTrace's "2020 Cryptocurrency Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Report." The DeFi-related crimes continue to increase quarter over quarter.
These kinds of investigations present numerous challenges for both private and government sectors. The technology behind the cryptocurrency industry is complex and constantly evolving. Not surprisingly, police agencies are struggling just to keep up with the most recent security patches as well as the necessary hardware needed to solve crimes.
Clearly, the use of cryptocurrency isn't an overnight phenomenon, since the interest in cryptocurrency has drastically increased. Police may be monitoring certain crypto wallets or addresses that could help identify a suspect behind the transactions. Recent developments in digital intelligence give the investigative teams the ability to visualise transactions as well as follow the trail of paper that could uncover evidence about individuals who commit crimes.
The importance of education and training is key
One of the main difficulties for law enforcement when confronting cryptocurrency is perception. Cryptocurrency is new and evolving, so people perceive it as a complex subject and therefore, education and training are essential. Investigators and agents must have the right skills to maximize methods and practices, however it could be difficult for police command staff to see the importance of training on cryptocurrency since these kinds of investigations are relatively new to law enforcement.
Agencies had to overcome the same obstacle 10 years ago, when top management didn't feel cell phone investigations were important. There were many teams that did not pursue mobile devices as they did not have the equipment and the training required to perform properly with the data collected from mobile phones. Today, nearly all crimes have a link to a mobile phone. In the coming years, almost any financial offense will bear some connection to cryptocurrency as crypto is the inevitable future of money.
New investigative tools
The second tier consists of investigative tools. They are tools that use physical components to collect data from devices as well as software utilized to analyze the data collected. In order to create the most effective tools for crypto analysts teams, they require solutions that are built around a full blockchain search engine that gathers massive amounts of data points in order to trace cryptocurrency addresses through dark markets, exchanges and ATMs in crypto.
The latest solutions on the market give teams the ability to surface cryptocurrency artifacts to use in the role of "leads" to start a blockchain research.
The advancements in technology for cryptocurrency have pushed experienced criminals underground where law enforcement involvement is practically nonexistent and the likelihood of being caught are minimal. Law enforcement should prepare now to design a complete, end-to-end investigation solution that is based on knowledge tools, tools and services. Digital intelligence is essential to finding out the cause of the incident and planning for the next event, and it is imperative for all DI strategies include contingencies that are supported by top-of-the-line tools designed for crypto.
With the growth in use and popularity of cryptocurrencies, agencies should also be working toward bringing their DI expertise into the company and bringing in skilled experts. It's a dual-step solutionagencies require both knowledge and the right tools to effectively respond to crypto-related incidents. These are the essential elements to a solid DI strategy. Crypto can be traced back to numerous types of crimes -- from financial fraud to wildlife, drug and human trafficking -- making it a crucial part of DI investigations. While it is becoming the latest method of payment the technology behind cryptocurrency can aid in the investigation procedures.
In order to tackle these new challenges, you need the evolution of tools for law enforcement, as well as training and strategies based on DI and data analytics. The final word is that the cryptocurrency will be around for the long haul, and law enforcement agencies need to be proactive today to prepare to deal with the escalating number of crypto crimes that is sure to increase in frequency because of the rising popularity of cryptocurrency. But crypto is just an instrument for criminals, because money is always. However, it is an instrument for law enforcement agencies , too.
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