Police: easy availability of ‘cybercrime as a service’ is worrying
According to the police, it is becoming easier for laymen to buy ‘software packages for hacking websites, phishing and ransomware’. The detective expressed his concerns about this in De Telegraaf on Wednesday.
According to the police, the ease with which criminals have access to programs with which they can dupe businesses and private individuals is great. In an interview with De Telegraaf, Inge Philips, deputy head of the national criminal investigation department, and Rob van Bree, portfolio holder Intensifying the Cybercrime Approach to the National Police, indicate that ‘cybercrime as a service’, by which the police probably means ready-made malware packages, is becoming increasingly easier. is for sale in an ever-increasing range.
According to Philips, it is a ‘misconception to think that only highly educated, new criminals and Eastern Europeans engage in cybercrime’. For this, Philips cites an example of a 45-year-old drug addict who, in addition to his career as a repeat offender with burglaries and thefts, now also uses the computer as a ‘crowbar’ by working together with a ‘previously convicted ICT prodigy from the neighbourhood’.
“Cyber crime now makes up more than eleven percent of the total registered crime, but with the easily accessible software, the technological barrier is becoming very low,” says Van Bree.
The police are therefore arguing for more possibilities to deal with internet criminals. The Computer Crime Act offers a solution for this, says Philips. She compares the police break-in via computers with a ‘regular raid’ by an arrest team into a home. According to Philips, a physical raid is also not practical, because a suspect can destroy all the evidence with one push of a button and make the computer inaccessible. “You have to get ahead of that by securing information remotely,” says Philips.
According to her, it should not be assumed that the police can now sniff through computers ‘limitless’. The examining magistrate must ensure that everything goes according to the rules and that all steps must be recorded, which, according to the duo, is technically better to check than a normal raid.