Cybercriminals Turn Data Brokers, Europol Warns

Europol’s 2025 IOCTA highlights the industrialization of data exploitation across the cybercrime lifecycle, with stolen personal information fueling ransomware, fraud, identity theft, and child exploitation. The report underscores the growing use of AI to scale social engineering and BEC, and the central role of infostealers like Lumma, RedLine, and Vidar in harvesting credentials and digital identities—often traded by initial access brokers over encrypted platforms. Despite law enforcement actions such as the 2025 Operation Endgame disruption of the Lumma network, persistent weaknesses like poor password hygiene and outdated systems keep enabling attacks, prompting calls for coordinated, intelligence-led, ecosystem-wide responses.