Fortinet Cybersecurity Podcast · Fortinet Cybersecurity Podcast

Brass Tacks S2E06 – Fighting Cybercrime at Global Scale

March 13, 2026·27 min·1 clip

Juergen calls cybercrime an “industrialization of crime” that lets attackers strike from anywhere with Internet access.

1. Fortinet Cybersecurity Podcast’s Brass Tacks S2E06 focuses on global cybercrime and how governments, businesses, and citizens should respond. 2. Host Joe Robertson speaks with Juergen Stock, former Secretary General of Interpol, whose 10 years at Interpol and 40 years in policing frame the discussion. 3. The episode asks what people and institutions should do now that cybercrime has become a worldwide threat instead of a niche technical problem. 4. Stock contrasts old physical crime scenes with cybercrime, where attackers can operate from any point in the world with Internet access. 5. He describes cybercrime as the “industrialization of crime” and says ransomware is not a new issue. 6. Stock says the criminal model shifted around 2015 from “script kiddie” attacks to an “underground economy” of specialized offenders. 7. He says that underground economy works like “the good old yellow pages,” where criminals can rent tools and get a hotline for ransomware problems. 8. Stock says the target range runs from private computers and mobile phones to critical infrastructure such as electricity, hospitals, and water supply. 9. He argues that the old pattern of criminals knowing each other personally has given way to nicknames, coalition-building, and specialized service markets. 10. Stock says low risk and very high profit now define cybercrime, which changes the balance compared with traditional crime. 11. He says the first shift for society is mindset: everyone should assume they could be attacked. 12. Stock says many people suppress risk perception and tell themselves, “It’s my neighbor,” when a cyberattack happens elsewhere. 13. He recommends cyber hygiene measures such as two-factor authentication, regular software updates, firewalls, and cautious handling of unfamiliar email. 14. Stock says the same basic logic applies to passwords, and weak choices like a name or “one, two, three, four, five, six” make criminals’ work easy. 15. He says organizations should already have an emergency plan for ransomware, communication roles, and a list of police contacts. 16. Stock says rehearsals and exercises matter because teams need to know whom to call before systems are encrypted and blocked. 17. He says police today are much better prepared, especially in developed countries, and can work without automatically pulling the plug on business operations. 18. Stock says effective response often comes from police-private-sector teamwork, plus information sharing through public-private partnerships. 19. He points to Interpol’s Gateway center in Singapore as a 24/7 collaboration point for global IT security companies and law enforcement. 20. Listeners who manage risk, security, or operations will find the episode useful, while people looking for a technical deep-dive into malware code may skip it.

As heard by us

Cybercrime is framed as a shared problem that starts with basic cyber hygiene.

Brass Tacks treats cybercrime as a public problem, not a narrow business headache, and Juergen Stock argues that no one should assume an attack lands somewhere else.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want cybercrime explained as a real-world risk, not a scare tactic.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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