Rich by Coin

Top Defense Department officials warned that artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency are lowering barriers to entry for cybercriminals, enabling nefarious actors to threaten national security and circumvent traditional financial tracking systems. “Cyber threats are no longer theoretical, episodic or isolated; they are persistent, adaptive and increasingly strategic,” said Lesley Bernys, executive director of the DOD Cyber Crime Center. Bernys noted that cybercriminals use AI to automate phishing scams, create malware and amplify fraud. Artificial intelligence is accelerating all of it, lowering barriers to entry, while increasing speed, scale and precision, he said.

Jeffrey Hunt, global operations branch chief for the DOD Cyber Crime Center, said cybercriminals are using virtual currencies to quickly transfer funds across borders while evading conventional banking systems meant to stop illicit financial transactions. Cyber actors at the organized crime, cartel and nation-state levels can easily move cryptocurrency from “a single keyboard” to evade sanctions, launder money and buy illicit technology, he said. “It lowers the bar for them, which raises a challenge for us.”

To combat these transfers, the Pentagon’s cyber crime center is first identifying a “known contact point,” such as evidence from a ransomware victim or a digital address from a previously-investigated cyber criminal, to expand investigations and analyze transactions. Part of that analysis includes identifying activities from digital wallets, possibly from affiliates of a cyber group, to determine how much currency is going to foreign nation-states, for example. As cybercriminals automate their processes, he said, their methods become repeatable, which allows investigators to better understand how an actor’s money laundering works. While Bernys warned about the threats AI poses to cybersecurity, he also said the technology can “be a force multiplier for defense, enhancing detection, accelerating analysis and helping investigators connect the dots that would otherwise be missed.”