Europol IOCTA 2026: encryption, proxies, and AI are expanding cybercrime

Europol published its annual Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment on 28 April 2026. The report identifies more than 120 active ransomware variants in 2025 and warns of a widening velocity gap between law enforcement capabilities and the pace of criminal innovation. AI is enabling personalised phishing campaigns and scalable social engineering at lower operator skill levels. The dark web remains resilient despite enforcement actions, with encrypted messaging services bridging surface and dark web environments.

In this domain: Australian ACSC publishes agentic AI security guidance warning of prompt injection, scope creep and audit trail gaps · UK intelligence: 100 nations have spyware that can hack Britain · UK Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026: half of businesses breached, phishing dominant, logging readiness inconsistent