Story
Securing a borderless digital world
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- OSCE Secretariat
Most of us barely remember the early days of the internet. Back then, for many people, cybersecurity meant choosing a strong password, installing a firewall and keeping antivirus software updated. These precautions are still important, but they are no longer enough on their own. Today's digital threats are more complex, more persistent, and more interconnected than ever before, crossing borders seamlessly and blurring the lines between the virtual and physical worlds.
From cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure, to the misuse of AI and online recruitment efforts of terrorist networks and organized crime groups, to the spread of misleading digital content that enables trafficking networks to operate under the radar, today’s cyber threats demand a new level of vigilance and co-operation.
Confronting these threats means rethinking how we protect ourselves in a world where the digital and physical are now inseparable. It requires countries to treat online threats not as a technical afterthought but as a shared societal responsibility - investing in stronger defences, building the capacity to respond quickly when systems are breached, and working together across borders to track threats that move faster than any single institution can. It also means equipping people with the awareness to navigate an online environment where criminal activities blend into the everyday noise.
Today’s cyber threats make us rethink how we protect ourselves in a world where the digital and physical are now inseparable.
Digital shocks and real-world consequences
In September 2025, a cyber-attack on a digital system used by airports across Europe disrupted check-in and boarding at major hubs including Brussels, Heathrow and Berlin. With automated systems knocked offline, airports were forced to switch to manual processes, causing flight cancellations, delays and disruption for thousands of passengers.
This incident is just one example of how cyber-attacks on digital systems can paralyze the essential services we rely on – from railways to pipelines, ports, hospitals, and power grids – and expose shared vulnerabilities across critical infrastructure.
It also underscores how cyber threats don’t stop at borders or sectors. A vulnerability in one system can quickly cascade into other industries. In 2022, a ransomware attack on the IT systems of a German fuel-storage and logistics company forced several major oil terminals to reduce operations. Because these terminals supplied fuel to transport companies, emergency services, and industrial clients, the disruption quickly spilled over into the transport sector and the energy sector.
Digital platforms including social media are now central to trafficking and organized crime recruitment, often targeting youth, migrants, and people seeking opportunities abroad.
But the consequences of today's cyber threats extend beyond infrastructure and institutions. They increasingly reach individuals directly, exploiting the same digital interconnectedness that makes essential services vulnerable. The prevalence of and dependence on the use of digital tools in all aspects of life – from online banking and shopping to video games and chat rooms – brings with it new spaces for coercion, manipulation, and the proliferation of criminal networks.
Digital platforms including social media are now central to trafficking and organized crime recruitment, often targeting youth, migrants, and people seeking opportunities abroad. Through fake job ads and AI-generated personas that promise high-paying work, victims are trafficked into cyber-scam compounds where they are stripped of their documents and forced to work long hours for little or no pay.
At the same time, organized crime groups increasingly use social media to systematically recruit young people by exploiting vulnerabilities such as poverty, social exclusion and the need for belonging through targeted grooming, peer-to-peer communication and the glamorization of criminal lifestyle.
Online environments have also become dominant pathways through which young people encounter and engage with violent extremist and terrorist content. Young people, including children, can encounter polarizing and identity-based content online, including AI-generated images and videos, which violent extremists use to attract and engage them. Gaming platforms offer high anonymity, limited moderation, chat functions, shared cultural references and youth-dense environments, providing fertile ground for terrorist recruitment efforts.
Digital platforms are also being used by organized crime groups to co-ordinate illicit transnational activities. Messaging platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp and Instagram are used to co-ordinate logistics, recruit couriers and advertise synthetic drugs. Crime groups also use social media for money laundering and financial crimes, including the recruitment of “money mules”, co-ordinating crypto-based laundering schemes, and advertising illicit financial services.
As more of daily life moves online, societies need the capacity to anticipate digital threats, respond quickly and work together to contain their impact.
Digital security starts with co-operation
Our dependence on digital spaces will likely only deepen in the years ahead. Rather than seeing this only as a risk, it requires foresight, stronger preparation, smarter co-ordination and shared responsibility across borders and sectors. As more of daily life moves online, societies need the capacity to anticipate digital threats, respond quickly and work together to contain their impact.
The OSCE helps participating States strengthen national cyber incident response, improve information sharing and implement cyber/ICT confidence-building measures such as establishing national points of contact, facilitating early warning exchanges and sharing threat information. After disruptions to transport and energy systems, OSCE experts have supported countries in South-Eastern Europe and Central Asia to map industrial control system vulnerabilities, run cross-border cyber crisis simulations and train public sector staff to respond to spoofing, ransomware and supply chain intrusions. The goal is to ensure that a cyber-attack in one country does not become a regional crisis.
OSCE field missions in Central Asia and South Eastern Europe also run multi-agency cyber exercises that simulate attacks on logistics hubs, fuel networks and municipal services to help authorities understand interdependencies and strengthen resilience.
At the same time, the OSCE works with participating States to disrupt online trafficking and organized crime recruitment, including fake job ads, coercive messaging and AI-generated personas. Through its Secretariat and field operations, the Organization trains frontline responders to detect digital grooming and supports awareness campaigns that help young people recognize recruitment into cyber scam compounds and other illicit activities.
The OSCE also addresses violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism online by helping States understand how violent extremist and terrorist actors exploit gaming platforms, chat rooms and youth-dense online spaces. Preventing violent extremism requires engaging with a diverse set of stakeholders, including educators, communities, youth and local authorities, to build resilience to violent extremist content through critical thinking, media and information literacy, as well as digital literacy.
Across Central Asia and South-Eastern Europe, and with the support of its local field missions, the OSCE also supports law enforcement in tackling cybercrime and other forms of cyber-enabled organized crime, including crypto-based laundering schemes.
This multilayered approach reflects a simple truth: digital technologies and platforms now sit at the centre of trafficking, radicalization to violence, attacks on critical infrastructure, and organized crime – and protecting people online is increasingly inseparable from protecting them offline. Just as important, it acknowledges that no single service, platform, individual, or government can confront these threats in isolation. Digital risks do not exist in silos. Neither can our response to them.