UNODC report exposes escalating threat of organized crime in the Pacific


The Pacific is increasingly becoming an important transshipment hub and an operational and destination point for organized crime syndicates, according to a new report launched today by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Titled Transnational Organized Crime in the Pacific: Expansion, Challenges, and Impact, the report provides a detailed analysis of the rapidly evolving organized crime landscape and related drivers. It highlights how foreign criminal groups are capitalizing on the region’s geographic isolation, infiltrating legitimate businesses and using new technologies to advance their illicit operations while evading law enforcement.

Read more…
Source: UN Office on Drugs and Crime


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • An analysis of incidents at Brazilian educational institutions

    August 3, 2026

    Because of the amount of data that can be obtained and the high impact that successful attacks may have, educational institutions are frequent targets of cybercriminals. Both public and private schools and universities rely on software for managing personally identifiable information (PII) that is often insecure or insufficiently tested against known vulnerabilities. In addition, machines ...

  • FBI: Alert to Countries, Companies, and Other Entities Regarding North Korean IT Workers

    July 31, 2026

    North Korea relies upon a network of skilled Information Technology (IT) workers, deployed within and outside of North Korea, to obtain false identities and remotely earn income to fund North Korea’s unlawful nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. North Korean IT workers impersonate nationals of other countries to obtain work and income through online platforms operated ...

  • Midnight Blizzard targets travelers worldwide for malware delivery and credential theft

    July 31, 2026

    Since early May 2026, Microsoft Threat Intelligence has observed Storm-2945, a sub-cluster of Midnight Blizzard, conducting widespread but targeted traffic manipulation attacks involving hospitality sector networks served by captive portals worldwide. Despite some tactic, technique, and procedure (TTP) similarities to the Forest Blizzard DNS hijacking operation that we publicly disclosed in April 2026, we attribute this campaign, ...

  • Toy Ghouls’ new toy: the GenieLocker ransomware

    July 30, 2026

    The new GenieLocker ransomware family has been active since March 2026. It has been used in attacks against organizations in the Russian Federation, primarily in the manufacturing sector, and attributed to the Toy Ghouls group by open-source intelligence (link in Russian). The Toy Ghouls, also known as Bearlyfy, Labubu and Laboo.boo, is a financially motivated extortion group, which ...

  • OpenAI explains how its AI agent breached Hugging Face

    July 29, 2026

    On July 28, OpenAI published an update on the agent that escaped its sandbox and hacked into Hugging Face during an internal cybersecurity evaluation. In the update, OpenAI reiterates that the “rogue” system was a more capable, pre‑release research model, not something intended for public deployment, and that it has now been deactivated and locked down for restricted research ...

  • Iran-linked CyberAv3ngers suspected in attacks on Minnesota water systems

    July 29, 2026

    Security researchers at Tenable suspect the Iran-linked faux hacktivist outfit CyberAv3ngers was behind the cyberattack that disrupted more than 30 Minnesota water facilities. Neither state-level nor federal officials have made any claims regarding attribution for the attacks, however, Tenable reckons the operational pattern is consistent with the crew’s previous raids, noting the timing relative to recent government warnings. The ...