Criminals are getting away with higher levels of online-led crime than ever before, as Australian police struggle to keep pace with a web so complex that even some perpetrators don't know they are involved.
Organised crime networks now outsource their tasks to people online, decentralising criminal capabilities and making attribution and disruption more difficult.
Dark web marketplaces and encrypted communication channels allow the sale and transaction of criminal services to flourish, with police struggling to keep up, Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Hilda Sirec told a parliamentary inquiry on Friday.
She said many people involved in crimes, like arson or cybercrime, do not know they are doing it on behalf of a big criminal operation.
Current legislation made it hard to track people to the top, leaving the real perpetrators without any punishment, the assistant commissioner said.
"For us to then link the individuals that committed to that effect attack all the way up to the state sponsor access actors is quite challenging," she said.
"Having legislation that enables us to be able to pick up all of those individuals ... will certainly act as a strong deterrent."
In submissions made ahead of the inquiry, federal police called for an amended legislative framework they say is no longer fit for purpose.
Many crimes are state sponsored, she said, using the 2025 Sydney caravan arson attack as an example, but it can be almost impossible to prove.
In Australia, this manifests through a supply chain for sophisticated online scams and ransomware attacks, drug trafficking, or the provision of services to carry out physical attacks.
Different individuals or groups handle specific tasks, dividing the risk and responsibility, creating a chain of contractors and protecting higher-level actors while exploiting those at the bottom.
Different individuals or groups handle specific tasks, dividing the risk and responsibility, creating a chain of contractors and protecting higher level actors while exploiting those at the bottom.
Cryptocurrency, encryption and VPNs are all used in tandem by highly sophisticated groups.
Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission's Jennifer Hurst called for updated technology, including the ability for more analytical work, to keep pace with evolving technologies.
The changes would also help smaller countries around the Pacific who do not have access to the same tracing technologies as Australia.
