Metaverse and dark web: new territories for organized crime

The metaverse and the dark web are becoming the new "realms" where mafias are expanding. According to the Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate (Dia), these criminal organizations are able to adapt to technological transformations and exploit encrypted communication platforms and the darkest aspects of the Internet. The Dia underlines the need to adapt the tools of security agencies to counter this criminal evolution.

The challenge of encrypted communications

The Dia report highlights the resilience of organized crime in exploiting the profit opportunities offered by technological evolution. In addition to the metaverse and encrypted communications, mafias are taking advantage of new, lesser-known digital aspects. Investigators are called upon to acquire new skills to understand these complex technological universes and anticipate crime developments, in order to neutralize it.

An international cooperation strategy

The Dia report also underlines the importance of international cooperation in combating organized crime that exploits encrypted communication. In this context, Dia promotes and coordinates the @On Anti-Mafia Operational Network project, which allows access to data from encrypted communication platforms seized by foreign judicial authorities. This made it possible to discover criminal dynamics orchestrated by well-structured organizations, even at an international level.

The need to adapt technological tools

According to Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director of Europol, it is essential to adapt the tools of security agencies to the new challenges posed by organized crime in the metaverse, encrypted communications and other lesser-known digital aspects. The mafias, in fact, are capable of continuously regenerating themselves and have highly specialized technicians. It is necessary to intervene at a supranational level to regulate the activity of online service providers and make the encrypted services offered to users accessible to the police forces, in order to effectively combat digital crime.