The end of the Cold War -- along with increasing globalisation beginning in the 1990s -- has helped criminal organisations expand their activities and gain global reach. Criminal networks are believed to have benefited from the weakening of certain government institutions, more open borders, and the resurgence of ethnic and regional conflicts across the former Soviet Union and many other regions. Transnational criminal organisations have also exploited expanding financial markets and rapid technological developments. In addition, terrorist networks are believed to be increasingly supporting themselves through traditional crime, and have been linked to criminal organisations.