The IOCTA is Europol’s flagship strategic product highlighting the dynamic and evolving threats from cybercrime. It provides a unique law enforcement focused assessment of emerging challenges and key developments in the area of cybercrime. We are grateful for the many contributions from our colleagues within European law enforcement community and to our partners in the private industry for their input to the report. Combining law enforcement and private sector insights allows us to present this comprehensive overview of the threat landscape.

The data collection for the IOCTA 2020 took place during the lockdown implemented as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, the pandemic prompted significant change and criminal innovation in the area of cybercrime. Criminals devised both new modi operandi and adapted existing ones to exploit the situation, new attack vectors and new groups of victims. 

P.59 Users can find drug listings in massive volume on the Darkweb; however, these do not necessarily reach priority-levels in terms of impact. More impactful, dangerous drugs, such as fentanyl, opioids and heroin are still significantly present on the Darkweb, although listings are smaller in number. Europol has observed an increasing trend of top organised crime groups having a presence on the Darkweb dealing drugs, which is likely due to an effort to expand their distribution mechanisms. As noted in IOCTA 2019, drug dealers may also be running multiple monikers on the Darkweb, which makes it difficult to prioritise within the drug topic. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic crisis seemed to have the most effect on the supply chains regarding drug trade compared to other crime. This has now stabilised and the situation has returned to normal, with an anticipated growth on the horizon.