Cybercrime is Increasing all the time. The malware Emotet and ransomware are still Popular with perpetrators, and the corona pandemic offers additional Opportunities for fraud, as the BKA has found out.
Cybercrime continues
to increase in Germany. The German police registered 100,514 cases of
cybercrime in the narrower sense in the past year, an increase of over 15
percent compared to the previous year. The number of acts known to the
police has thus reached a new high. And: “The perpetrators are becoming
increasingly professional,” says Martina Link, Vice President at the Federal
Criminal Police Office (BKA).
Ransomware
The BKA
collected annually the situational awareness to cybercrime and has this time also the influences by the Corona - pandemic investigated. As The link explains, critical infrastructures, public institutions, and large
commercial enterprises have become targets. Due to the threatened, immense
public damage, the ransom demands could be enforced more easily.
“The dark field
is immense,” adds Link, referring to the increasing numbers. In companies, in particular, many incidents were swept under the carpet - studies estimate
that only twelve percent of crimes are reported. This is exactly where the
problem lies because paying ransom money makes cybercrime lucrative and
encourages imitators.
" Ransomware is
THE existential threat," says the BKA Vice President. Since last
year, the BKA has been observing a new modus operandi with the so-called
“double extortion”, in which the perpetrators not only encrypt the IT systems
of their victims using ransomware, but also steal sensitive data in advance of
the attacks and threaten to publish them.
Emotet
Also, Emotet is
still active. The malware taught
last year at public institutions and damage to the systems brought some days to
a standstill. For example, the malware severely
impaired the work of the Berlin Court of Appeal, and the Furth Clinic, the City
of Frankfurt / Main, the City of Homburg, and the University of Gieben were also
targets of Emotet.
The damage
caused by ransomware or other attacks is high. The industry association
Bitkom estimates that the economy suffered damage of over 100
billion euros from cyber
attacks in 2019.
The police found
a total of 22,574 suspects in 2019 - over two percent more than the year
before. “ Cyber
criminals are usually internationally networked and work
based on the division of labor. Also, they adapt flexibly to new
situations, ”explains the BKA in a statement.
Corona
The perpetrators
also showed this flexibility in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, as can
be seen from the special evaluation "Cybercrime in times of the COVID-19
pandemic". Through social distancing, streaming portals,
messengers, e-mail services
and VPN connections
to the workplace have been used more intensively and have offered areas for attack.
Fake websites, phishing, and
malware spamming were identified as the primary threats between March and
August 2020. For example, some websites advertise on the
Internet presences of government agencies with information and consultations on
Corona emergency aid. However, when you click buttons on the websites in
question, the visitors' computers
are infected with malware. The situation is similar for
recipients of e-mails that appear to come from government agencies or banks and
contain information on the subject of "Corona". Opening an
attachment infects the person's computer with malware.
Find the total security software for the protection of your data from Fake websites, Phishing, And malware spamming.
For Martina
Link, the goals of the BKA are clear: “Uncovering criminal networks,
smashing structures and convicting suspects. It is our aim to always be
one step ahead of the perpetrators. We will therefore continue to expand
our capacities in the area of combating cybercrime. "
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