Telecommunications giant Verizon has released a report mapping data breach patterns with material from 88 countries, including Brazil. As the 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) revealed, 40% of cybercrimes involve psychological manipulation, with criminals demanding some action or confidential information from the victim.
According to the DBIR, which analyzed 79.635 such incidents, 85% of the most common actions involved human victims, while 61% of them were aimed at stealing credentials. Another startling piece of information revealed by the report: 80% of attacks come from organized crime, with perpetrators seeking to profit from data theft.
“Cybercriminals are becoming more specialized and attentive to potential victims. The DBIR must be taken very seriously so that these criminal actions can be undermined,” explained Sandro Süffert, CEO of Apura Cyber Intelligence, a Brazilian company that collaborated with Verizon for the report.
Another scenario observed by the DBIR was about the impact of pandemic in cybersecurity. To prevent Covid-19 contamination, several companies have had their employees work from home. However, many companies have not taken into account that home internet networks do not have the same security as corporate networks. According to Apura, this scenario was “a perfect opportunity” for cybercriminals, and not only in Brazil.
In 2020, as DBIR pointed out, there was an increase of more than 10% in cases of phishing, where criminals trick victims through fake emails from real companies into revealing information such as usernames, passwords and credit card numbers. Another threat that increased (by 7%) during the pandemic was cases of ransomware, a type of malware that hijacks victims' data. In this type of cybercrime, perpetrators also use psychological manipulation to get the victim to pay a ransom in order to avoid having their data stolen. leaked data.
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