With the transformation of digital technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not only going to play pivotal role in science, medical research, communication and even journalistic world – it also has already become effective tools to law enforcement agencies in destroying organized criminal and terrorist networks. During the recent years, organized crime is on rise in various countries in the world, including Bangladesh, India, the Middle East, Europe, Britain and also the United States. Intelligence agencies in the US are already witnessing organized crime networks of having strength in numbers as well as resources, which may not be easy to combat or eliminate through conventional methods.
While each group these crime networks solidifies its proficiency in certain areas, they can simply tap into other networks to obtain what they need but do not have. This includes the ability to traffic weapons, launder money, distribute narcotics, share in logistics such as transportation, source recruiting, engage in human trafficking, counterfeiting, and more.
Mike Downing, US law enforcement advisor at Fivecast, providing digital intelligence solutions used by the national security, law enforcement, defense, corporate security, and financial intelligence sectors recently in an article said:
“The proliferation of online platforms not only enables criminal groups to source their assets or required skills and services, but it also facilitates inter-network communication and makes law enforcement investigations more demanding and time consuming.
“In the past, terrorist networks and organized crime syndicates might never have had reason or the opportunity to collaborate. Today, thanks to advances in technology, criminal gangs, cartels, terrorist networks and organized crime groups can all meet in the middle, digitally. They can share in their financing, their recruiting, their logistics, and their transportation.
“Thwarting this trend requires that law enforcement have the latest digital, artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytical capabilities. AI-driven open-source intelligence (OSINT) assets will enable investigators to identify leads and monitor criminal networks, who often utilize online platforms for communication purposes, and to degrade their operations and those who support them”.
Counterterrorism experts say – to destroy organized criminal networks, law enforcement agencies should focus on four key areas where advanced technologies can give them an edge: node identification, link analysis and functionality, disrupting operational capabilities, and inter-agency coordination.
According to them, in today’s world where terrorist and crime rackets are spreading networks in many countries in a surprisingly faster pace, it won’t be wise to focus on just a single target anymore. Instead, entire networks need to be targeted and destroyed. For achieving this goal, law enforcement agencies need to cast a very wide and deep net to better understand the entire illegal network along with its supporters. And it can only be possible by applying advanced analytical capabilities thus enabling to track communications and detect likely information and actions of interest.
A popular environment where criminals ‘meet’, communicate and operate is on the ‘Dark Web’. Despicable individuals operating in this environment are able to hide their true identities and engage in a wide variety of illegal activities. For example, anyone wishing to purchase a ransomware tool to attack a vulnerable organization and hold their data hostage would easily be able to acquire that software on Dark Web. Unfortunately, most of the law enforcement agencies outside large cities do not have a presence on the Dark Web, which certainly is a disadvantage. It allows crime and terrorist networks to step ahead of law enforcement.
Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies throughout many nations are making headway in protuberance identification or crime and terrorist networks by analyzing multiple social media platforms to better locate and identify data that can shed light on activities and identities of criminal and terrorist networks. It avoids challenges with the Dark Web and collects valuable breadcrumbs left with the deep web by crime and terrorist entities.
But, despite avoiding with the Dark Web, collecting and analyzing this disparate social media data still presents it own challenges. In this case, threat actors may attempt to conceal their communications or swivel to difficult-to-access domains. This quick reworking and rotating can defeat traditional law enforcement strategies, keeping human detectives and analysts off balance. This is where AI becomes critical.
