Queensland academics building a ‘toolkit’ to nab cyber criminals
Criminals using crypto currency or blockchain technology may have their activities tracked in real time by a new artificial intelligence “toolkit” being developed by Queensland researchers.
The Griffith University-led project is aiming to unravel the hidden criminal connections within a massive global network of dodgy payments using the advanced digital technology.
Criminal cryptocurrency transactions are estimated to cost Australians millions of dollars each year and as much as US$1.5 trillion globally.
But, so far, criminals using the technology have had the edge on authorities attempting to catch perpetrators by following the money.
Project lead, Associate Professor Vallipuram Muthukkumarasamy from Griffith University’s School of Information and Communication Technology, said the race was on to block the next-generation criminal movement of money.
“With crypto currency coming in there’s anonymity or pseudo-anonymity, so it’s very difficult to link the human network to the money flow or payments with illegal activity,” Muthukkumarasamy said.
“With the crypto currency, unlike traditional money, no-one controls it. We have the difficulty tracing and tracking it, therefore it brings challenges to law enforcement authorities and intelligence agencies in attributing a crime to the transactions.
“Also, it makes it difficult to provide evidence to the courts of law.”
There are more than 2000 unregulated cryptocurrencies worldwide.
Using cryptocurrencies, criminals could hide their identities and launder money by transferring money into “digital wallets”, Muthukkumarasamy said.
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Criminals could then use services such as “mixing” or “tumbling” to convert dirty money into clean money.
“Essentially, we need faster detection of suspicious activities so we can disrupt the payments,” he said.
“It is estimated criminals are harvesting US $1.5 trillion a year through the help of the cryptocurrency.”
The project, which is being conducted jointly by Griffith University, the University of Queensland and University of Melbourne, has been allocated as grant of $600,000 by the Office of National Intelligence and Department of Defence’s National Security Science and Technology Centre.
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