When people think of cybercrime, they imagine advanced attack techniques launched from darkrooms. But criminals are content with low-tech: the most common gateway to cybercrime in the world continues to be email. A report by cybersecurity company Trend Micro indicates that malicious email attacks skyrocketed in 2020, corresponding to a 32% increase compared to the previous year.
The company detected the presence of 1,2 million emails with some type of malware that could reach users’ inboxes – a 16% increase compared to 2019. The most common types of compromise involved Emotet and Trickbots, two types of banking Trojans capable of stealing everything from highly personal data to bitcoins. The same attacks could be a gateway for ransomware, in which access to computer data is “hijacked” in exchange for payment.
Trend Micro also detected a 19% year-over-year increase in phishing emails (inviting people to enter and provide information on a fake website), reaching 6,9 million. Of these, 5,5 million scam attempts targeted the theft of credentials, with the criminals contacting back via telephone to complete the process.
This refers to attacks and cybercrimes suffered by ordinary people. Attacks targeting corporations saw an 18% reduction compared to the previous year. However, this is not necessarily a positive point, as successful attacks caused losses of up to 48% between the first and second half of 2020.
According to the report, the most common cybercrime at the moment also involves, in some way, the Covid-19. This is not exactly surprising, as phishing scams promising vaccines arrive even via WhatsApp. Federal agencies, as well as companies like Netflix, are used as fronts for these emails, which attempt to collect monetizable data in some way – either by impersonating or breaking into the victim's bank accounts.
Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. TechRadar
Image: Sora Shimazaki (Pexels)
