In recent years, the mafia have demonstrated extraordinary ability to adapt and innovate, leveraging technology to expand its reach and increase profits. They use drones and radio-controlled submarines for illicit trafficking, hire the best hackers, computer engineers, and drug designers, and they operate with ease on the web, creating online banks to launder money and using artificial intelligence for criminal activities. They now combine traditional extortion with online extortion and operate in the metaverse and on the dark web. So while businesses and institutions are struggling to keep up Due to a lack of resources and specialized personnel, mafias exploit technological innovation to broaden their range of action and increase profits, operating in a hybrid way in both analogue and digital reality. We can no longer just talk about cybercrime but about a real Cyber Organized Crime.
This transformation is right at the heart of the report, edited by Antonio Nicaso e Walter Rauti, by title, “Cyber organized crime. Mafias in Cyberspace”, presented by Magna Grecia Foundation at the UN Headquarters, last April, and at Montecitorio, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Foundation.
The study offers an overview of the evolution of mafias in cyberspace, proposing an innovative index to evaluate the vulnerability of companies and institutions to cyber attacks.
They were present at the presentation of the report Nino Foti, president of the Magna Grecia Foundation, Nicola Gratteri, Prosecutor of the Republic of Naples, Antonio Nicaso, expert on mafia criminal phenomena and professor at Queen's University in Canada, e Clare Colosimo, president of the parliamentary anti-mafia commission.
The difference between Cybercrime and Cyber Organized Crime
To understand the difference between cybercrime and cyber organized crime, it is necessary to define both terms.
Il Cybercrime (or cybercrime) is acriminal activity using information technology, both hardware and software, to carry out illegal or harmful actions against individuals or legal entities. This type of crime is committed for personal interest or for a small group of people not linked in a continuous and structured way. The objectives vary depending on the type of action taken. For example, cybercrime may consist of hacking a bank account or cloning a credit card with the intention of stealing money for personal or group enrichment.
Il cyber organized crime (or cyber mafia) is instead acoordinated and structured criminal activity, which uses information technology components by individuals belonging to organized crime, directly or indirectly. The objectives are multiple and multilevel, and the advantage obtained is broader. An example of cyber organized crime could be the attempt to obtain sensitive data or databases of a public body to manipulate public procurement. In this case, the individual hacker's goal could be economic-profitable, while for the instigators the goal could include competitive advantages, economic power or territorial control.
Gratteri: "the old protection money is now outdated, Mafia uses surprising technologies"
“Criminal organizations now consider the 'old' lace, as something outdated”, said Prosecutor Gratteri, specifying how the mafias prefer today online extortion and money laundering activities via digital banks. “The Camorra created an online bank that laundered billions of dollars with 6 customers in Lombardy and Lazio alone,” Gratteri said. “The laundering amounted to more than three and a half billion euros, of which only two were seized.”
But what is also surprising is the capacity of the new mafias with technology: “The thing that surprised us is that in the seized banks – explained Gratteri – we have discovered technologies that our judicial police don't even dream of. Unfortunately, in actions to combat the mafias, theItaly remained behind compared to countries like Germany, Holland and Belgium which now have to help us. In the police force there is a complete lack of young engineers capable of giving the push our system needs. We are wasting too much time and a lot of pitch."
Also Antonio Nicaso highlighted how in 2024 organized crime is increasingly rooted in the sector of technological and IT innovation, explaining how the clans have hired hacker to breach security systems and engage in financial fraud, investing the proceeds in weapons and other illicit activities. The investigations speak for themselves: the clans hired computer pirates to breach the security systems of the port of Antwerp, allowing the disembarkation of cocaine from Latin America without arousing suspicion. In another case, Romanian hackers were hired to conduct sophisticated social engineering, stealing millions of euros from unsuspecting citizens through phishing, money then used to buy weapons in Moldova. Recently, a German hacker was invited to move to Calabria to create clandestine trading platforms and fake sureties, marking a direct collaboration between hackers and mafiosi in the criminal organization's home territory.
And those who fall behind in the technological race risk disappearing: “those who have fallen behind in terms of using the web, how American Cosa Nostra, risks disappearing,” he explained Nicaso.
The highlights of the report
The study highlights that mafias operate in cyberspace structured and strategic way. The is analyzed cybercrime phenomenon starting from the combination of traditional, visible and perceptible criminal methods, with invisible and underground ones characterized by the use of technological and IT innovation. This new area of intervention has expanded money laundering and corruption activities, often through international banking operations that cleanse illicit proceeds, mainly from drug trafficking, in financial centers with ineffective controls.
Then there is the cyber vulnerability of businesses and public administration to represent an economic opportunity for these criminal organizations. Thanks to'technological innovation, mafias can obtain contracts without resorting to traditional corruption. A correlation is then found between money laundering, cybercrime, crypto-assets and corruption.
This criminal evolution, explains the report, must be found in the Italian and European public policies they have the phenomenon was overlooked of mafias in the context of cybersecurity. It is important, in fact, that cybersecurity considers not only military and geopolitical risks, but also the threat from the mafia, which could be interconnected. Among cybercriminals, in addition to common criminals, there are also structured organizations such as mafias. This last correlation, however, we read in the report, requires further verification, as it is not covered in the text.
The Cybersecurity Bill
Il cybersecurity bill it can represent a crucial tool to combat cybercrime in Italy. Among the measures envisaged, there are more severe penalties for unauthorized access to computer systems and financial penalties for the possession or supply of harmful programs, excluding those responsible for ethical hacking. A significant innovation is theobligation for PAs, regions, municipalities, local health authorities and other public bodies to notify cyber incidents within 24 hours. In case of delays, there are fines ranging between 25 thousand and 125 thousand euros. Furthermore, the bill promotes the'use of artificial intelligence to strengthen national cybersecurity.
Photos: “dark web ideal place for mafias”
“After last year's experience, we felt the need to prepare a second report examining thehybridization of mafias in the digital world, revealing how they have evolved in recent years to exploit the opportunities offered by technology,” he explained Nino Foti, president of the Magna Grecia Foundation. In fact, the study shows that the mafias operate digitally in a structured, strategic and coordinated way, so much so that there are correlations between money laundering, cyber crime, crypto-assets and corruption. After all, the The dark web represents an ideal place for mafias: it is discreet, relatively safe and allows you to maintain anonymity thanks to the available pseudonymity and encryption technologies. On the underground internet there are large virtual markets where it is possible to buy and sell everything. At the same time, you can launder money or commit financial fraud and extortion online, knowing you can evade traditional borders and escape investigation.
“Thanks to careful analytical work – concluded Foti, we have developed an index which allows you to synthetically determine the actual level of risk of institutions and businesses in the event of cyber attacks. Having a summary measure like this is essential for guide political decisions, since it provides a clear and comprehensible picture of the scope and evolution of cyber threats, allowing policy makers to evaluate the socio-economic impact of cyber crime in a given territory and to make the consequent decisions with a more rational and more effective approach" .
“The Magna Grecia Foundation report has a double great merit: on the one hand, it offers a reconnaissance and aaccurate analysis of criminal phenomena, on the other hand, proposes a series of useful suggestions and indications for preventing and repressing cybercrime”, said the president of the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission, Clare Colosimo. “As for countermeasures – he added – some important steps forward have been made recently. In April 2023, Parliament approved cryptocurrency transfer control regulations to prevent their use in money laundering, terrorist financing and other crimes. The bill on cybersecurity, then, can constitute an effective tool in the fight against cybercrime in Italy. A priority, especially considering the increase in cyber attacks in crucial sectors such as SMEs, the healthcare and financial system, and public administration".
