17 Section 3 STRATEGIC CONTEXT 3.1. When the last National Cyber Security Strategy was published in 2011, the scale of technological change and its impact was already apparent. The trends and opportunities described then have since accelerated. New technologies and applications have come to the fore, and greater uptake of internet-based technologies worldwide, in particular in developing countries, has offered increasing opportunities for economic and social development. These developments have brought, or will bring, significant advantages to connected societies such as ours. But as our reliance on networks in the UK and overseas grows, so do the opportunities for those who would seek to compromise our systems and data. Equally, the geopolitical landscape has changed. Malicious cyber activity knows no international boundaries. State actors are experimenting with offensive cyber capabilities. Cyber criminals are broadening their efforts and expanding their strategic modus operandi to achieve higher value pay-outs from UK citizens, organisations and institutions. Terrorists, and their sympathisers, are conducting low-level attacks and aspire to carry out more significant acts. This chapter sets out our assessment of the nature of these threats, our vulnerabilities and how these continue to evolve. THREATS Cyber criminals 3.2. This strategy deals with cyber crime in the context of two interrelated forms of criminal activity: • cyber-dependent crimes – crimes that can be committed only through the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) devices, where the devices are both the tool for committing the crime, and the target of the crime (e.g. developing and propagating malware for financial gain, hacking to steal, damage, distort or destroy data and/or network or activity); and • cyber-enabled crimes – traditional crimes which can be increased in scale or reach by the use of computers, computer networks or other forms of ICT (such as cyber-enabled fraud and data theft). 3.3. Much of the most serious cyber crime – mainly fraud, theft and extortion – against the UK continues to be perpetrated predominantly by financially motivated Russian-language organised criminal groups (OCGs) in Eastern Europe, with many of the criminal marketplace services being hosted in these countries. However, the threat also emanates from other countries and regions, and from inside the UK itself, with emerging threats from South Asia and West Africa of increasing concern. National Cyber Security Strategy 2016