Category: Cybercrime

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Cybercrime Cybersecurity

Cyber pirates: Does the US want to legalize malicious hackers?

Return of letters of marque: The US may be on the verge of taking an unprecedented step in the fight against cybercrime: With the Scam Farms Marque and Reprisal Authorization Act of 2025, Congress wants to revive a centuries-old instrument – letters of marque and reprisal, also known as letters of marque. Historically, these allowed private ship owners to capture enemy merchant fleets on behalf of their country.

Now, cyber pirates are to be given similar rights to combat foreign hackers, fraud networks, and state-sponsored cybercriminals. But what at first glance appears to be an innovative solution turns out, on closer inspection, to be a highly controversial undertaking that raises profound legal, ethical, and strategic questions.

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Criminal Defense Cybercrime

Cybercrime criminal defense in Germany: Cybercrime investigations in transition

The way digital investigators work in Germany and Europe today has changed fundamentally—something that not all stakeholders have noticed yet. As a criminal defense attorney, I have been observing how things are changing in my own cybercrime cases for years—in addition to the wealth of information I receive from my network of clients and colleagues. And I can only say: it’s time to wake up. German investigators in particular are extremely persistent and know how to make the most of international instruments. Above all, the special public prosecutor’s offices in Cologne, Frankfurt, and Bamberg must be kept on the international radar.

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Cybercrime Cybersecurity

Understanding cyber diplomacy as a strategic necessity

Cyberwar, cybercrime and the new geopolitics of digital sovereignty: the digital sphere is no longer just a technological terrain, but a battlefield of geopolitical interests. States are vying for influence, companies for market share and non-state actors are using cyberspace as an arena for espionage, blackmail and even digital sabotage – one reason why I keep returning to this topic.

I was interested to read the “Handbook for the Practice of Cyber Diplomacy“, published by leading experts in the field, which sheds light on the increasing importance of diplomatic strategies in cyberspace. It provides both a historical context and a pragmatic analysis of existing diplomatic mechanisms by which states attempt to bring order to a digitally fragmented global system riddled with power interests.

This is about far more than just cybersecurity: it is about power projection, economic dominance and the question of who sets the rules in the digital space.

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Cybercrime Cybersecurity

Israel and Iran: Cyber Espionage, Cyber Warfare and Cyber Defense in Comparison

Cyber Espionage, Cyber Warfare and Cyber Defense in Comparison: When discussing cyber power in the Middle East, Israel and Iran inevitably stand at the center of any serious analysis. Both states have systematically developed significant cyber capabilities over the past two decades, yet they pursue them under very different conditions, with distinct strategic objectives and with varying levels of technological integration.

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Cybercrime Cybersecurity

Israel: Cyber Espionage, Cyber Warfare and Cybersecurity

In the international context, Israel has established itself over recent decades as one of the leading actors in the digital realm. This position is shaped by historical security doctrines, institutional innovation and a close integration of state, military, industry and research, which together enable Israel not only to defend against cyber threats but also to project power proactively in cyberspace.

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Criminal Defense Cybercrime

Digital Evidence in Germany: Legal Foundations, Collection, and Admissibility in Court

As our world becomes increasingly digitized, digital evidence has emerged as a key component in legal proceedings, especially in Germany. Whether it’s chat logs, data stored on smartphones, or forensic copies of hard drives, courts must determine not only the truth contained in digital artifacts but also whether they were obtained and handled in a legally sound manner. This article offers a structured overview of how digital evidence is treated in German criminal and civil procedures, highlighting key legal challenges and principles.

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Criminal Defense Cybercrime

The German Judiciary’s Encounter with Kryptomessengers like Encrochat, SkyECC & ANOM

Encrypted Evidence and Constitutional Boundaries: Over the past several years, German criminal courts have been confronted with an influx of evidence originating from encrypted communications services—so-called “Kryptomessenger” platforms—such as EncroChat, SkyECC, and, more recently, Anom. These platforms, marketed as secure communication tools, often served the criminal underworld as havens for logistical coordination, trafficking, and financial transactions.

Once considered virtually impenetrable, they were ultimately infiltrated by international law enforcement operations. This development has sparked a cascade of legal proceedings in Germany, bringing to the surface one of the most delicate tensions in modern criminal procedure: the admissibility of foreign-sourced, technologically complex digital evidence in a system constrained by strict constitutional norms.

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Cybercrime

UN Cybercrime Convention 2024: The Global Struggle Over Cybercrime Treaties in a Fragmented Digital Order

A New Era of Cybercrime Governance: In the early days of the internet, international criminal law lag far behind the technological realities of transnational cybercrime. The adoption of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime in 2001 marked a watershed moment. For the first time, states committed to a common framework for criminalizing core forms of cybercrime, harmonizing procedural tools, and facilitating international cooperation. But this Eurocentric model, while groundbreaking, has become a geopolitical fault line. In 2024, after years of behind-the-scenes negotiation, the United Nations adopted its own global cybercrime treaty—promising inclusivity and updated standards, but raising deep concerns about surveillance, human rights, and the rise of authoritarian cyber-sovereignty.

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Cybercrime Cybersecurity Liability of the management

Corporate Espionage in the Age of Digital Vulnerability: Strategic and Legal Imperatives for Global Leadership

The Resurgence of Espionage as a Business Risk: Economic espionage has returned—not as a relic of Cold War intrigue, but as a dominant, digitally enabled force in the contemporary global economy. What once occurred through shadows and surreptitious briefcases now unfolds across networks, supply chains, cloud infrastructures, and human behavior. With over 80% of companies in Germany alone reporting incidents of data theft, sabotage, or espionage in the past year, what we are witnessing is not a security crisis but a structural shift in the nature of competition.

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Cybercrime Cybersecurity

Cybercrime in North Korea and the threat to the cryptocurrency industry

North Korea is one of the main perpetrators of the growing threat to cyber security. At least since the attack on Sony Pictures in 2014, the country has been perceived as a major cyber player on the international stage. Since then, Pyongyang has used its hacking skills to circumvent international sanctions and steal funds.

Pyongyang was able to use the captured funds to finance the development of its nuclear and missile program. North Korea also uses cyber operations for (digital) espionage. The targets are wide-ranging: they are directed against universities, human rights organizations and media companies, create discontent or distrust through election fraud and attack critical national infrastructures. The increasing importance of North Korea in the area of cybercrime and cybersecurity is also the reason why we maintain a separate blog post on the topic here.

As an example, a study by Recorded Future’s Insikt Group paints an alarming picture of North Korean cybercrime. These activities, which have increased since 2017, target the cryptocurrency industry and have enabled North Korea to steal an estimated 3 billion dollars in cryptocurrencies.

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