FIT BUT partners with the Cybercrime Atlas, a World Economic Forum-hosted initiative

Experts from the Faculty of Information Technology, Brno University of Technology (FIT BUT) have long been at the forefront of research in the field of cybersecurity, specifically network traffic security, cryptocurrencies, the darknet, and the misuse of AI. It is therefore no surprise that they have been invited to collaborate in the development of strategic research aimed at disrupting cybercrime globally. Launched in 2023 under the auspices of the World Economic Forum, the initiative is known as the Cybercrime Atlas. In the fight against cybercrime, strength lies in unity; effective measures require seamless cooperation between public and private institutions. After all, "digital crime" knows no borders. The goal is to eliminate the existing fragmentation of knowledge and procedures in the fight against cybercriminal activity.

The Cybercrime Atlas community uses open-source research to gain new insights into the cybercrime ecosystem. To put it simply, the involved experts map the terrain, criminal operations, networks, and infrastructure via open-source intelligence; Their goal is to work together to produce insights that help disrupt cybercrime globally. The project has already yielded very tangible results. According to last year's annual report, insights gathered by the Cybercrime Atlas were used in four major international campaigns to disrupt cybercrime networks between 2024 and 2025.

The project involves some really big names not only from the private sector and not only from Europe – the American and Asian continents are also involved, as is Africa. To name a few: Fortinet, Binance, Microsoft, PayPal, TNO, Trend Micro, Interpol... and, most recently, FIT BUT. What is the contribution of our researchers? On the one hand, their contribution lies in insight generation and academic rigour and, subsequently, the development of software tools. Researchers (but also students) cooperating with Dr. Vladimír Veselý, working alongside international colleagues within the Cybercrime Atlas consortium, will create interactive materials aimed to streamline the processes for detecting cybercrimes that primarily use crypto-assets.

In recent years, cryptocurrencies and tokens have been widely used as an alternative to traditional money, thanks to payment features such as:

• Near-instant settlement: Transactions are cleared in the blockchain within seconds or minutes,
• no possibility of falsification or revocation (transactions in the blockchain are cryptographically secured and cannot be changed),
• pseudonymous or completely anonymous addresses (i.e., the inability to identify transaction participants without additional information),
• absence of a centralized regulator (i.e., there is no entity to enforce anti-money laundering procedures).

These features have been recurrently exploited by cybercriminals. Efforts to ensure greater internet security for society, individuals, and organizations surely make sense. We are pleased that FIT BUT is part of this global initiative.