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Showing posts with label Phishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phishing. Show all posts

Monday, January 3, 2022

ONGOING CYBER THREATS

 

 

After years of data breaches exposing individuals’ personal information, cyberthieves will increasingly use that information to attack businesses in 2022, according to the Identity theft resource Centre’s predictions for the coming year.

` “We also tracked a record number of data breaches and a steady flow of new victims of unemployment benefits identity fraud long after the enhanced benefits ended,” said eva Velasquez, president and CEO of Identity theft resource Centre.

` Velasquez anticipates an increase this year in the number of people who have been victims of identity theft multiple times. And she warned of particular risk ahead as people change how they pay for things.

` “Look for cybercriminals to take advantage of the shift to alternative digital payment methods, such as payment apps, digital wallets and peer-to-peer services,” Velasquez said.

` With cryptocurrency becoming increasingly popular, scammers will find new ways to steal from consumers, according to the resource centre, which is a US nonprofit that tracks data compromises and provides free assistance to victims.

` The centre’s predictions for 2022 include:

  • ` l An accelerated shift from identity theft to use of already stolen personal information and credentials to commit identity fraud and attack businesses.
  • ` l Consumers may shift away from some online transactions and email communications due to the increasing problem of phishing, which is when cybercriminals use a fraudulent email or website to masquerade as a legitimate business or person.
  • ` l the effects of pandemicrelated fraud will continue into 2024, with some fraud cases taking years to resolve and unemployment compensation fraud efforts likely becoming permanent.
  • ` l ransomware, when hackers use malicious software to infect and lock a computer network and demand demand money to restore access, may surpass phishing as the top cause of data breaches.
  • ` l Supply chain attacks, which is when malware infects a single organisation that is linked to multiple others, will become more common.
  • ` l Single incident attacks will impact greater numbers of individuals, including social media account takeovers that victimise followers and networks.


` “All of these trends point toward increases in identity fraud that will change consumer behaviours, revictimisation rates and pandemicrelated identity crimes for years to come,” Velazquez said.

` “We expect to see these types of cyberattacks and who they target continue to evolve as they did in 2021.”

` The resource centre called for wider consumer education efforts and improved data protection. the number of publicly reported data compromises was already higher last year than in all of 2020. the centre’s third quarter report shows that as of Sept 30, 2021, data compromises rose by nearly 17% over all of 2020. the report found that nearly 281.5 million people were victims last year. there were 1,291 data compromise events in 2021, compared to 1,108 in all of 2020. the record is 1,529 in 2017.

` In November, the resource centre released data showing that 16% of 1,050 US adult consumers surveyed took no action after receiving a data breach notice, according to the survey by the resource centre and Dig.works, a consumer research company.

` Fewer than one-third of survey respondents had frozen their credit at one time for any reason and only 3% did so after receiving a data breach notice, the survey found. 

– Journal-news, Hamilton, Ohio/tribune News Service

 

Crypto cybercrime set to surge in 2022


Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Cyber crooks target gamers

By P. ARUNA aruna@thestar.com.my




SERI KEMBANGAN: Cyber crooks have now set up fake gaming sites to steal information from Internet surfers.

They are also stealing personal information from online gamers and selling virtual gaming items like weapons to other players.

Cybersecurity Malaysia, which is an agency under the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry, said cyber criminals were targeting gaming websites and had spread their wings to Malaysia, with five cases reported so far.

“Gaming websites have already become a lucrative business for cyber criminals in South Korea and China,” said Cybersecurity Malaysia vice-president (cyber security responsive services) Adli Abd Wahid.

Gamers are spending more money on online gaming, purchasing ‘battle tanks’, ‘avatars’ and other virtual gadgets and tools needed to advance to higher levels of a certain online game.

“Cyber crooks can steal the usernames and passwords of users who have advanced to a certain level in a game, and sell the account to buyers who want to continue playing the game from that level.”

Adli said that since many gamers preferred not to waste time starting from the lowest levels, they were willing to buy from cyber crooks.

The crooks could also steal the virtual weapons and gadgets from compromised accounts and sell them to other players.

Adli estimated that 99% of phishing websites targeting Malaysians were created and operated overseas, with foreign syndicates often hiring locals as “money mules” to transfer stolen money to foreign bank accounts.

The number of phishing sites detected in Malaysia rose from 634 cases in 2009 to 1,426 reports that were lodged last year.

IDC Market Research (M) Sdn Bhd associate analyst Devtar Singh said there were currently an estimated 7.3 million online gamers in Malaysia.

International anti-phishing service provider Internet Identity (IID) reported that the attacks were expected to rise with the global online gaming industry generating over US$15bil (RM44bil) annually, making it a strong target for criminals.