Europol, UNICRI and Trend Micro uncover current and future threats of AI and how to combat them

HONGKONG SAR - Media OutReach -20 November 2020 - Ajointly developed newreport by Europol, the United NationsInterregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) and Trend Micro looking intocurrent and predicted criminal uses of artificial intelligence (AI) wasreleased today. The report provides law enforcers, policy makers and otherorganizations with information on existing and potential attacks leveraging AIand recommendations on how to mitigate these risks.

The complete results of this research are available here:https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/hk/security/news/cybercrime-and-digital-threats/exploiting-ai-how-cybercriminals-misuse-abuse-ai-and-ml  .

"AI promises the world greaterefficiency, automation and autonomy. At a time where the public is gettingincreasingly concerned about the possible misuse of AI, we have to betransparent about the threats, but also look into the potential benefits from AItechnology." said Edvardas Šileris, Head of Europol's Cybercrime Centre. "Thisreport will help us not only to anticipate possible malicious uses and abusesof AI, but also to prevent and mitigate those threats proactively. This is howwe can unlock the potential AI holds and benefit from the positive use of AIsystems."

The report concludes that cybercriminals will leverage AIboth as an attack vector and an attack surface. Deepfakes are currently thebest-known use of AI as an attack vector. However, the report warns that newscreening technology will be needed in the future to mitigate the risk ofdisinformation campaigns and extortion, as well as threats that target AI datasets.

For example,AI could be used to support:

• Convincing social engineering attacks at scale
• Document-scraping malware to make attacks more efficient
• Evasion of image recognition and voice biometrics
• Ransomware attacks, through intelligent targeting and evasion
• Data pollution, by identifying blind spots in detection rules

"As AIapplications start to make a major real-world impact, it's becoming clear thatthis will be a fundamental technology for our future," said Irakli Beridze,Head of the Centre for AI and Robotics at UNICRI. "However, just as thebenefits to society of AI are very real, so is the threat of malicious use.We're honored to stand with Europol and Trend Micro to shine a light on thedark side of AI and stimulate further discussion on this important topic."

The paperalso warns that AI systems are being developed to enhance the effectiveness ofmalware and to disrupt anti-malware and facial recognition systems.

 "Cybercriminalshave always been early adopters of the latest technology and AI is nodifferent. As this report reveals, it is already being used for passwordguessing, CAPTCHA-breaking and voice cloning, and there are many more maliciousinnovations in the works," said Tony Lee, Head of Consulting, Hong Kong &Macau, at Trend Micro. "We're proud to be teaming up with Europol and UNICRI toraise awareness about these threats, and in so doing help to create a saferdigital future for us all."

The threeorganizations make several recommendations to conclude the report:

-  Harnessthe potential of AI technology as a crime-fighting tool to future-proof thecybersecurity industry and policing

-  Continueresearch to stimulate the development of defensive technology

-  Promoteand develop secure AI design frameworks

-  De-escalatepolitically loaded rhetoric on the use of AI for cybersecurity purposes

-  Leveragepublic-private partnerships and establish multidisciplinary expert groups

About Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3)

Europol set up the EuropeanCybercrime Centre (EC3) in 2013 to strengthen the law enforcement response tocybercrime in the EU and thus to help protect European citizens, businesses andgovernments from online crime. Our focus is on cybercrime committed byorganised crime groups, which generate large profits (online fraud), seriouslyharm victims (online child sexual exploitation) or impact criticalinfrastructure and information systems in the EU, including cyber-attacks.Since its establishment, Europol's EC3 has made a significant contribution tothe fight against cybercrime: it has been involved in hundreds of high-profileoperations and hundreds on-the-spot operational-support deployments resultingin hundreds of arrests. https://www.europol.europa.eu/about-europol/european-cybercrime-centre-ec3

About UNICRI

The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institutewas established in 1968. Within the broad scope of its mandate, the Institutecontributes, through research, training, field activities and the collection,exchange and dissemination of information, to the formulation andimplementation of improved policies in the field of crime prevention, justiceand emerging security threats, due regard being paid to the integration of suchpolicies within broader policies for socio-economic change and development, andto the protection of human rights.

In 2017, UNICRI opened its Centre for Artificial Intelligence andRobotics in The Hague, the Netherlands, with a view towards advancingunderstanding of artificial intelligence, robotics and related technologiesvis-à-vis crime prevention, criminal justice, the rule of law and security.The Centre seeks to share knowledge and information on the potential beneficialapplications of these technologies and to contribute to addressing any harmfuleffects and the malicious use. www.unicri.it

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro, a global leader in cybersecurity, helps make theworld safe for exchanging digital information. Leveraging over 30 years ofsecurity expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, TrendMicro enables resilience for businesses, governments, and consumers withconnected solutions across cloud workloads, endpoints, email, IIoT, andnetworks. Our XGen™ security strategy powers our solutions with across-generational blend of threat-defense techniques that are optimized forkey environments and leverage shared threat intelligence for better, fasterprotection. With over 6,700 employees in 65 countries, and the world's mostadvanced global threat research and intelligence, Trend Micro enablesorganizations to secure their connected world www.trendmicro.com.hk.