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Dave Miller – Tech Enthusiast & Security Expert – June 30th, 2022
You are not alone if you frequently wonder how often does cybercrime happen. Many people have asked this question to learn an interesting fact or to determine if they should exercise caution or not. Since businesses are increasingly turning to the public cloud for security. The rise of the cloud has brought concern over safety and trust. Even though specialists in cyber security have devoted hundreds of hours to studying and assessing new dangers. Nevertheless, risks will always exist, so you must also do your share to save yourself from these inevitable cyber-attacks.
Continue reading the article, and I’ll explain what cyber safety is and what you should do to protect yourself and others around you.
Cybercrime is often known as criminal behavior with a computer or a similar device and a network as a tool to promote unlawful purposes, such as online or offline fraud.
American citizens were the first victims and perpetrators of cybercrime due to this country’s early and widespread use of computers and the internet. However, among the 175 nations or areas tracked by Akamai, Indonesia is currently the central region suffering from online attacks.
The significant financial impact of cybercrime is that it may take many different forms of illegal behavior with a profit motive. Accordingly, we may typically divide cybercrime into three categories based on the attacked groups
Individuals
Governments
Property
Cyberattacks and crimes have an impact on both persons and businesses. One person disseminating harmful or unlawful material online is one example. Another is when a hacker takes a person’s bank credentials to access their funds.
However, state-sponsored attacks are frequently quite sophisticated as well, and their main goal is to benefit their nation strategically, such as through stealing secrets. Even though cyber-attacks are already a fairly common occurrence in international relations, this subject still lacks a definitive answer. Also, you may not be aware of it, but teams of cyber security experts work on your behalf every hour to keep you secure.
The number of cybercrimes is increasing, and most of them go undetected. Although large-scale attacks get reported, this is a tiny portion of what occurs.
Fact: According to statistics from the University of Maryland, a cyberattack, no matter which type, happens every 36 seconds, or 2,244 on average.
Understanding the many cyber dangers, you can encounter, and the numerous ways thieves might try to harm your company can help you mitigate that risk. Since you wouldn’t leave your house unlocked or even open, you wouldn’t want to leave any openings for those looking to take advantage of you through the internet.
The one and only safe computer is the one that is not working in today’s world of cyber security. And even though you will never be completely protected, it will all come down to how secure you are using different methods. I assume you believe your efforts are sufficient. However, there’s a reasonable probability that cybercriminals might still target you or your business.
Before I go towards tips on protecting yourself online, it is crucial to understand that not all cyber crimes are the same. There are a lot of different parameters to it that you may want to explore. Type of cybercrimes and how often does cybercrime happen right now get discussed below
The most significant cyber hazard to businesses is phishing. Attacks known as phishing include delivering false messages that seem to be from a reliable source. To trick people into disclosing sensitive information like credentials and personally-identifying information, targets are approached by email, phone, or text message. Devastating outcomes can come from an attack. More specifically, those looking for illegal access use spear-phishing attacks to target the data of certain businesses. These attacks get carried out by people attempting to acquire specific information, not random attackers.
Fact: Since the beginning of 2021, about 20,000 phishing attacks have got discovered against Indonesia, a 38% rise from the previous year.
Phishing is responsible for almost 90% of data breaches. Data from 847,376 recorded cybercrimes get evaluated for the FBI’s 2021 Internet Crime Report, which discovered a substantial increase in phishing scams, totaling 323,972 that year. Email is the primary method of phishing attempts.
One out of every 99 emails is a fraudulent attack, according to an examination of much more than 55 million emails. 3.4 billion phishing emails get sent out daily worldwide, which helps answer the question of how often cybercrime happen.
A denial-of-service attack is an attempt to obstruct a server, service, or network’s regular traffic. At the same time, the other sort of distributed denial service attack is often carried out by overloading systems and preventing some or all lawful requests from being completed on the targeted computer or resource. These attacks aim to overwhelm the target’s resources and produce a service denial.
As a result, the website’s servers get overloaded and crash, knocking the site down. DDoS assaults are gradually rising in popularity and becoming the most common online danger. They typically target web servers of prominent institutions, such as the government or businesses.
To answer how often cybercrime happen, 20–50 DDoS assaults occur monthly at close to 70% of the assessed firms. Enterprise services catering to customers are the target of most attacks, with over 23,000 attacks per day documented. Amazon acknowledged that it had to defend against a 2.3 Tbps DDoS assault in the first quarter of 2020.
Merely a few successful DDoS assaults may cost a company significant money in lost revenue each month, even if most of these attacks are unsuccessful.
A form of malicious software attempt called ransomware tries to publish or restricts access to information or a computer system. In exchange for revealing the data, cybercriminals seek ransom money from their victims. In 2021, ransomware gangs motivated by money will target Indonesia as a top target. Email phishing will continue to be the most common ransomware attack method.
Human-operated ransomware operations are intricate and multifaceted. According to Microsoft’s 365 Defender Research Team, it may make early detection exceedingly challenging. If we discuss how often does cybercrime happen, in terms of ransomware, one type of cybercrime, through the third quarter of 2021, SonicWall reported 1,748 ransomware attempts per client. It works out to 9.7 ransomware attacks per user per working day.
With the rise of cryptocurrencies, ransomware attacks have also increased. It is since attackers can now quickly and covertly demand payment in cryptocurrency from their victims. The issue with these assaults is that trying to retrieve the files effectively funds the creation of the following iteration of this online danger. As a result, it keeps developing and becomes more complex.
Identity theft is when thieves use the personal data of a victim to carry out their crimes. There are several sorts of identity theft, each impacting the victim differently. Irrespective of how you interpret identity theft, it constantly jeopardizes the victim’s good name, financial stability, or future financial prospects.
It is a severe issue that costs them billions of dollars in losses every year. The threat of identity theft is global. Programs are in place in many countries to assist individuals in reporting identity theft and creating a recovery plan.
For how often does cybercrime happen in terms of identity theft, identity theft affects around 1 in 20 Americans annually. In the United States, 13 million people experienced identity fraud, according to Javelin’s 2020 Identity Fraud Survey. An unprecedented 51,629 complaints of cybercrime were made to the FBI by the general public, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Report 2021.
Unfortunately, most sufferers of identity theft don’t realize they’ve been victims until they attempt to utilize their identity for any formal paperwork. The average time it takes for a data breach to get discovered is 280 days. ID theft is a persistent issue, and you risk being exposed to any information online. Limit the info you provide and take control of your online identity to protect yourself.
Malicious software comes in various forms. It gets used in all cybercrimes to compromise a computer system. Then carry out a dishonest act on the part of a cybercriminal. Malicious software is a catch-all word for viruses, worms, trojan horses, and other destructive computer programs. All of these cybercriminals employ to cause havoc and access private data.
Viruses: By altering them to incorporate a potentially developed duplicate, viruses spread to other programs. Once inside your computer, the virus can harm your data.
Worms: While worms spread over computer networks and repeatedly replicate themselves
Trojan: While a trojan horse is software that often reduces a system’s security, it is dangerous despite appearing to be a legitimate application.
Malicious software, or malware, can be spread through various techniques. Phishing emails are the most popular way for cybercriminals and state-sponsored hacking groups to disseminate malware.
How often does cybercrime occur now? At least 560,000 new malware cases get developed and discovered each day. Whereas every day, the AV-TEST Institute identifies around 450,000 new potentially unwanted programs (PUAs) and harmful programs (PUA).
And over 1 billion malware programs exist. There is now more malware on the internet than ever, despite the latest operating systems’ built-in antivirus protection.
Fact: More malware is getting released than ever, and between 2017 and 2021, according to Cybersecurity Ventures, organizations will invest over $1 trillion in cybersecurity.
As was mentioned, the development of cybercrime with the rise of the internet is a brand-new crime category. This illegal internet activity is attracting a lot of young people. The UK’s National Cyber Crime Unit claims that the knowledge of the causes and pathways of this type of crime is currently insufficient. These charges can range from minor theft to malicious damage.
The following are the main factors that motivate numerous individuals to commit various forms of cybercrime.
Even significant cyberattacks are not worth many resources because all people need to commit something illegal is a device and an internet connection.
Fact: Most of the time, cybercrime involves behavior rather than resources.
The likelihood of cybercriminals being apprehended and facing legal action is relatively low. Because these attacks frequently originate in regions of the world to which the authorities may not have easy access. It often happens in cybercrime, and Julian Astrange and Edward Swowden are two notable instances of people who have done so.
Although there have been instances where criminals have been apprehended distant from the crime scene, usually, it depends on the bilateral treaties. Since cybercrime is a global threat. Governmental bodies frequently lack the authority to investigate every element of crimes committed online. International cooperation is necessary since criminals and technological infrastructure often get headquartered elsewhere.
Fact: According to a McAfee estimate, in 2014, cybercrime costs the global economy more than $400 billion annually and is a growing sector with high rewards and minimal dangers. But now, as per the latest estimates. More than $1 trillion, or slightly over 1% of global GDP, has been lost due to increasing cybercrime incidences worldwide.
The potential for committing cybercrimes is almost limitless because the cyber environment is constantly changing and introducing new effects. There is barely a global community that has not been affected by cybercrime. Practically every day brings the prospect of a new cyber danger; as discussed above, how often does cybercrime happen
Because cybercriminals may run a criminal operation with the aid of automation. There is no time restriction or window of opportunity during which they have the chance to carry out their plans for cybercrime.
Fact: IBM and Google researchers revealed how cybercriminal gangs operate and frequently imitate the actions of standard businesses, even those you could work for.
Data protection is now a crucial component of many corporate strategies and gets required by law in many jurisdictions. Therefore, most big businesses have cyber-security measures and prioritize staff education and training above enforcing rules. In reality, keeping policies up to date and effectively communicating them is the best method to combat enduring cyber-threats.
Google is a global leader in cloud computing technologies, offering dependable, simple-to-use services in both professional and private or consumer contexts. Both Google’s Code of Conduct and Google’s Security contain statements on Google’s commitment to security. Additionally, personnel must attend monthly security training sessions on security-related issues. These security standards are routinely reviewed and updated. Over 250 professionals make up Google’s full-time information security team.
To defend the network perimeter from outside threats, Google uses many levels of security. The company’s network and security strategy, consisting of the ten core components, are only allowed to be used by approved services and protocols that adhere to Google’s security standards. You can learn more about Google Security Policies in the linked white paper.
Microsoft’s approach to the security industry is exclusive. Microsoft possesses two practices in security: an integrated strategy and excellent AI and automation. Microsoft got uniquely positioned to consider the fundamental components of security holistically because of its presence across a wide range of technologies. Microsoft Professional Services assembled a diversified group of committed professional strategists, engineers, advisors, and support personnel. All provide proactive advising services and quick responses to unanticipated occurrences.
To provide consumers piece of mind, Microsoft developed considerably more advanced capabilities to guard against more smart attackers and help secure people and data from cyberthreats. The Microsoft cloud computing corporation detects an astounding 1.5 million daily attempts to infiltrate its systems. Microsoft’s security division generates more than $10 billion in sales, up more than 40% from the previous year.
Apple put a lot of effort into ensuring consumer and company data security. When data must get sent to Apple servers, Apple has created mechanisms to hide users’ identities. According to Apple’s Secret Employee Training Manual, all workers must get required training on topics including privacy, tolerance at Apple, and inclusion and diversity. Additionally, Apple verifies that third parties can satisfy the exact security requirements as Apple before engaging them and through audits and documentation.
They made their goods secure by design by incorporating superior security into them from the ground up with security architectures that consider the particular needs of each of their devices. Apple has built on its expertise in developing the world’s most sophisticated mobile operating system.
Apple products contribute to the ecosystem’s overall security and the device and data at rest. System security for all Apple hardware gets created to maximize operating system security on Apple devices without sacrificing usability.
Even though I’ve talked about the internet’s largest Tech companies, they’re not the ones in danger.
It seems that big companies are better when it comes to preventing cyberattacks. At least, that’s what a recent study of small enterprises indicates. They use less sophisticated technology and are not very well at defending themselves. Staff frequently lack cybersecurity knowledge or training.
You might get tempted to give up using the internet altogether when you learn and read about the various cybercrimes that exist. That’s probably going too far. Instead, it would help if you practiced good cyber hygiene to protect yourself from online risks. Below are the steps you need to take care of
The most common method used by cybercriminals to access your system is through vulnerabilities or holes. The likelihood will get reduced by upgrading your program, which your software suppliers regularly patch. To guard against newly discovered vulnerabilities, most large computer corporations regularly provide patches. When feasible, enable automatic updates to make things simpler.
To realize how important it is, A data breach involving 147 million people’s personal information got reported by Equifax in September of that year. Security personnel failed to implement the software upgrade that got advised to keep out digital attackers, which led to the breach. In the end, a $425 million settlement got reached to assist those impacted by the data breach.
It would help if you chose strong passwords that at the very least contain eight characters. You may use a password management tool to create and remember complicated passwords. In addition to passwords, use 2-F authentication.
2FA is crucial to web security because it quickly eliminates the dangers of compromised passwords. Enable multi-factor authentication if you can, especially for banking information accounts. For an even higher level of security, you may also consider purchasing an actual digital key.
Encrypt your data if you can. So that even if attackers get access to it, they can’t use it to their advantage. Ideally, there should be two copies of the backups, one of which gets kept locally.
Install a reliable antivirus program and take advantage of the optional add-on services like VPN and firewalls. When you go online, a competent antivirus will help secure your information by offering real-time protection. It protects against viruses and other types of malware, including ransomware and Identity theft
You cannot, of course, be secure at all times. Therefore, you must notify the local police and, in some situations, if you think your privacy has got compromised. You should inform the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission as soon as possible if you think you’ve been a victim of cybercrime.
In short, there is a cyberattack happening every 36 seconds, with hundreds of thousands of cybercrime cases happening every single year.
Your weakest point will allow cybercriminals and hackers to access your personal information. You are investing in your and your business’s defense against cyber dangers by opting for cutting-edge cyber training and education options. Please act now to stop future data breaches rather than wait until it is too late. Hackers are constantly developing, and because our security is still lacking, we must invest more in cybersecurity to reduce the increasing severity of these assaults.
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Dave Miller is an IT Consultant for Online Cloud Security and has over 7 years of experience in the Information Technology space. He also specializes in repairing laptops & computers. In his spare time, he loves to talk about new technologies and hosts monthly IT and Cyber Security meetings in the Houston area.
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Online Cloud Security is here to recommend you the most secure devices, from laptops to smartphones, we only want to provide you with products that we have tested and used ourselves for online security. Every product that we recommend is heavily inspected and tested for security against hackers, viruses, malware, and any other intruders that may want to steal your information.
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