Europol wants to disrupt activities of cyber criminals

The police must disrupt the activities of internet criminals, because prosecution is of little use. This is what Troels Oerting, the head of cybercrime at Europol, the European police organisation, advocates. However, he did not say exactly how this should be done.

“We need to move from persecuting cybercrime to disrupting cybercrime,” Oerting said at a conference in London, according to The Register. However, he did not say exactly how that should be done, although he does think it makes sense if more information is shared. In addition, the victims of cybercrime should also share information, thinks Oerting. “That’s the only way to catch the wolves.”

What is certain is that prosecuting internet criminals makes little sense, according to Oerting. According to him, between 75 and 80 percent of cybercrime comes from Russian groups. “Russia will not extradite them, so the best we can hope for is that Russia will prosecute them itself,” Oerting said.

According to Oerting, cyber criminals are increasingly using anonymization services such as Tor to erase their footprints. “That makes them very difficult to trace,” said Oerting. According to the policeman, cybercrime, which would take on grotesque forms, is a danger to the European economy.