The result of the collaboration of 15 organizations from seven European countries took the form of a $5.6 million, three year long study into criminal and terrorist acts on the net. According to a press release by the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), they already launched a research project focused on cybersecurity. They want to “prevent criminals and attackers from using the blockchain technology for criminal purposes while at the same time preserving the privacy rights of legitimate users.”
Project coordinator Ross King, Senior Scientist at Austrian Institute of Technology explained that the blockchain—lacking a “central” control—presented law enforcement with new challenges. He explained that Bitcoin was the most well-known “application of the blockchain.” It has a number of legal uses, he correctly announced. However, a significant number of illegal uses where criminals hide from law enforcement behind the pseudo-anonymous cryptocurrency. And, fittingly, he explained that hackers ransomed computers in “150 countries” and made tracking the payments nearly impossible because they required the payment in Bitcoin.
The announcement explained:
“The aim of the TITANIUM (Tools for the Investigation of Transactions in Underground Markets) is the development of technical solutions for investigating and combating criminal and terrorist acts on the net, which are carried out with the help of virtual currencies and underground marketplaces.”
The consortium worked on creating tools that would serve as “effective online forensics tools.” Four law enforcement agencies, and Interpol created the tools, and continue their development, to identify cryptocurrency transactions by criminals and money laundering techniques.
Once the tools are live tested on site, researchers will present and train law enforcement agencies on their use. Data obtained by the tools will be checked in order to verify the results and gauge the project’s (and/or survive tool’s) effectiveness.
Dr. King said, “[c]riminal and terrorist activities related to virtual currencies and darknet markets are developing rapidly and vary widely with regard to technical maturity, resilience and targeted goals.” Like many active researchers in the cyber arena, King agreed that law enforcement, in order to counteract the online activities, need to step their game up. No source of data should go dismissed, he explained.
Unlike many in this field—when paired with law enforcement, that is—the scope and development of tools under the TITANIUM program protected the fundamental rights of the users. “The consortium will analyze the legal and ethical requirements and develop guidelines for the storage and processing of data, information and findings from criminal investigations without affecting the privacy of the citizen.” How this will be accomplished, no details were given.
In addition to the Austrian Institute of Technology, the other parts of the consortium consisted of the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany; Coblue Cybersecurity of the Netherlands; Countercraft SL of Spain; Dence GmbH of Germany; University of Innsbruck of Austria; INTERPOL; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology of Germany; Federal Ministry of the Interior of Austria; Ministry of Interior of Spain; the National Bureau of Investigation of Finland; TNO; Trilateral Research Ltd. of the UK; University College London of the UK; VICOMTECH-IK4 of Spain.
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