Cybercime is evolving. Do you remember back when our biggest fear was that our computer would get a virus? Fast forward ten years later, and that’s the least of our concerns. Today, cybercriminals have the power to shut down entire industries.
All kinds of important information is stored online, which means cybercriminals can cause serious damage but cyberterrorism is a new threat online. Criminals can now steal valuable data from corporations, cities and intelligence agencies.
THESE ARE THE TOP 10 TRENDS IN CYBERCRIMES
More than 6 billion fake emails are sent every day.
Email scams are one of the most frequent cybercrime methods. According to EY cyber stats and facts, around 6.5 billion spam emails are sent every day.
Only one-third of URLs are considered safe.
The internet is home to billions of websites. It’s no wonder so many of them are used for cybercrime. URLs are divided into high-risk, moderate-risk, and low-risk categories and according to The Webroot Threat Report, more than a third of all websites (35%) are unsafe.
Phishing is the third most common cause of data breaches.
Phishing campaigns are easy to run which explains their frequency. The Verizon 2018 Data Breach Investigation report explains that phishing is one of the most common attack methods.
Nine out of 10 attacks start with a phishing email.
These attacks rely on prolonged, personalized communication with a victim so criminals can obtain credentials. Attacks are targeted at larger enterprises. This differentiates it from the standard phishing attacks sent out to hundreds of addresses, according to Cofense.
Almost 60% of all computers in China are infected by Malware.
According to Panda Security, not only is China the main contributor to cybercrime, but it is also the biggest victim. China is the most infected country by malware in the world. In Europe, Turkey is the forerunner with more than 40% of all PCs infected.
A business is targeted with ransomware every 14 seconds
What’s worse, half of the successful ransomware attacks affect over 20 company devices, on average.
More than half of fraudulent activity happens on mobile phones.
Mobile platforms are becoming the main vehicle for fraudulent activity, statistics show.
More than 10,000 Androids are infected every day.
New malware pops up every minute. Cybercrime statistics show that more than 11,000 incidences of malware appear every day – a 40% increase from 2017.
This year, 300 billion passwords will be in use.
According to research by Cybersecurity Ventures and Thycotic. Can you imagine protecting 300 billion passwords? The most common password is 123456. This tells us that great improvements in cyber education are needed on all levels.
One of the biggest problems for cybercrime is the lack of effective methods for identity verification online. There will always be risks of fraudulent activity as trends in cybercrime continue to develop but staying well-informed and educated can help prevent these attacks.
*Article adapted from cybintsolutions