Interpol warns that military cyber weapons may soon be available on the dark web

A senior Interpol official has warned that digital tools used by the military to conduct cyberwarfare could end up in the hands of cybercriminals.

Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock said he fears state-developed cyber weapons will appear on the dark web - a hidden part of the Internet that is not accessible through search engines such as Google - "within a few years. -a hidden part of the Internet that is not accessible through search engines such as Google.

Speaking on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Monday, Stock said, "This is a major concern in the real world - weapons that are used on the battlefield will be used tomorrow by organized crime groups."

He added, "The same applies to digital weapons, perhaps used by the military today, developed by the military, that will be available to criminals tomorrow."

Cyber weapons come in many forms, with ransomware - in which hackers lock up a company's computer systems and demand a ransom to regain control - being a key one. The topic of cyberwarfare has long been a concern for governments around the globe, but it has gained new attention in the context of Russia's war with Ukraine.

Moscow has been blamed for numerous cyber attacks that occurred before and during its military invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin has consistently denied such allegations. Ukraine, meanwhile, has enlisted the help of volunteer hackers from around the world to help defend it against Russian aggression.

Stork called on business leaders to increase cooperation with government and law enforcement to ensure more effective regulation of cybercrime.

"On the one hand, we understand what's going on - on the other hand, we need data, and that data is in the private sector." He said.

"We need your [cyber breach] reports. Without your report, we're blind."

Stork said there are "a lot" of unreported cyber attacks. "This is a gap that we need to close together, not just law enforcement, and it requires us to build bridges between our information silos."

The number of global cyber attacks more than doubled in 2021, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Cybersecurity Outlook report. Ransomware remains the most popular type of attack, with businesses being attacked an average of 270 times a year, according to the report.

Executives and government officials who participated in the panel discussion said cybersecurity incidents are putting critical energy infrastructure and supply chains at risk.

Robert Lee, CEO and co-founder of cybersecurity firm Dragos, urged companies to focus on real-world situations - such as the 2015 Russian state-sponsored attack on Ukraine's power grid - rather than more hypothetical risks. Ukraine fended off a similar attempt to disrupt its energy infrastructure in April of this year.

"Our problem isn't the need for 'next-generation' AI, blockchain or anything else," Lee said, "Our problem is usually just rolling out what we've already invested in. "