Technology ‘reshaping’ crime to make it more harmful, says NCA director

Technology is globalising crime, accelerating it and making it more harmful, according to the director of the National Crime Agency (NCA) Graeme Biggar.

In a speech at the organisation’s headquarters, he said that that technology is no longer simply a tool that criminals use and is now “reshaping crime itself.”

“Technology has enabled criminals to get smarter, faster and more connected, to each other and to victims,” Biggar said.

According to data from the NCA, the threat from serious and organised crime has increased.

Bigger said that the pace of change is the greatest in online crime, pointing out high-profile cyber-attacks including those on TFL, the Co-op and Jaguar Land Rover.

Cybercrime mostly originates overseas, but Biggar said the NCA has seen the emergence of UK-based attackers who combine sophisticated malware with social engineering, exploiting human vulnerabilities as well as technical ones.

He added that UK teenagers are being “radicalised” to become cyber criminals, sexual offenders, or terrorists within “toxic” online spaces.

“The message for organisations is clear: securing your systems is not enough,” Biggar said. “You also need to address how your people and processes, and those of your supply chain, can be manipulated.”

Biggar said he was particularly concerned about the threat to children online. Last year the NCA received 92,000 referrals of child sexual abuse from tech companies, which is an increase of up almost a third in two years.

“This year it has increased further to 2,000 a week,” Biggar added. “These referrals are also becoming more complex and more disturbing, with growing numbers involving sextortion and sadistic exploitation.”

Biggar called on tech companies to “face up” to their responsibilities in a way they had done yet.

He said that technology is causing a blurring between crime types while AI adds complexity and volume, and algorithms accelerate and normalise harm.

“The harms from serious and organised crime are being felt more intensely — by individuals, by communities, by the economy,” Biggar added. “The same technology that criminals exploit can be used to find them. We intend to.”