Opportunities and threats posed by new technologies, such as the dark web, distributed ledger technologies, the internet of things, additive manufacturing and connected cities.

Background

Crimes such as homicide and theft, and drugs such as heroin and cocaine have always been of public concern, and there has been a recent focus on areas such as child sexual abuse, modern slavery, new psychoactive substances, online fraud, and online indecent images of children.

Next steps

Get in touch with research@homeoffice.gov.uk

Source

This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:

Areas of research interest relevant to the Home Office GOVUK

Related UKRI funded projects

  • How Online Technologies are Transforming Transnational Organised Crime (Cyber-TNOC)

    The role of online technologies in organised crime is growing, as it is in wider society. Traditionally, organised criminals would threaten or (in the UK) much less often resort to the use of violence and intimidation to...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project specifically addresses the role of online technologies in organized crime, which is one of the new technologies mentioned in the question.

  • Cybercrime Network

    The complicated interworking of players/parties and technology, embedded in society's legal and cultural context, implies that cybercrime research should consists of (and preferably integrate) multiple disciplines: it mu...

    Funded by: EPSRC

    Lead research organisation: Newcastle University

  • LEADS-Engine: Linguistically Enabled Analytic Dark Search Engine

    **Vision for the Project** The UK National Fraud and Cyber Crime Dashboard (NFB) shows that, to-date in 2021, organisations have been impacted by 57,304 fraud-related cybercrimes, costing £637.4m. There has been a...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: FORENSIC PATHWAYS LIMITED

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project aims to develop techniques for the detection and prediction of cybercrime/fraud, which partially addresses the question about the threats posed by new technologies.

  • Tracking Covid Cybercrime and Abuse

    Around half of all acquisitive crime was already online before the start of the pandemic; it is now surging as many human activities move online chaotically, and cybercriminals adapt to the opportunities. This project wi...

    Funded by: COVID

    Lead research organisation: University of Cambridge

  • PETRAS 2

    Rapidly developing digital technologies, together with social and business trends, are providing huge opportunities for innovation in product and service markets, and also in government processes. Technology developments...

    Funded by: SPF

    Lead research organisation: University College London

  • CybercrimeNLP (CC-NLP): A natural language processing toolkit for the interdisciplinary analysis of underground online forums

    Online and electronic crime now account for about half of all property crime, in all countries for which we have good victimisation data. A significant number of other offences, including harassment, also happen online. ...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Cambridge

  • Interdisciplinary Centre for Finding, Understanding and Countering Crime in the Cloud

    The Cambridge Interdisciplinary Centre for Crime in the Cloud (CICCC) will combine the diverse range of skills available in the Institute of Criminology, the Faculty of Law and the Computer Laboratory at the University o...

    Funded by: EPSRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Cambridge

  • COVID-19: Monitoring the effects of the pandemic on illicit online trade

    The pandemic has reshaped the demand for goods and services worldwide. Economic stress, the public health emergency and disinformation-driven panic have pushed customers, and vendors, towards the shadow economy. In parti...

    Funded by: COVID

    Lead research organisation: City, University of London

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project specifically focuses on monitoring the effects of the pandemic on illicit online trade, including the dark web, which aligns with the question about opportunities and threats posed by new technologies.

  • FinTech digital solution to prevent online payments to criminal traders

    Governments and regulators set the rules of engagement for economic growth, environmental protection and funding of public services. Law enforcement agencies & the legal system ensures compliance. The majority of go...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: VISTALWORKS LIMITED

  • Fraud, Cybercrime and Ageing in the UK and South Korea

    Fraud and cybercrime, through a wide variety of genres, have become some of the most common crimes individuals experience and such is the scale of the problem, RUSI (a highly respected think tank) have described it as a ...

    Funded by: FIC

    Lead research organisation: University of Portsmouth

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project addresses fraud and cybercrime, which are relevant to the question, but does not specifically cover the technologies mentioned in the question.

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