Hi guys Tanishq this side how many of you aware of the rapid increase in cyber crime during the corona pandemic . The situation was worse than ever before as all the people are locked down at their home and everybody was busy with their mobile ,computer, television and various electronic devices.
By an estimate Overall digital device usage increased by 5 h during corona pandemic , giving a plunge to screen time up to 17.5 h per day for heavy users and an average of 30 h per week for non-heavy users .
COVID-19 caused a reduction in many types of crime around the world. Howerver the report is there is increase in domestic .
Let’s take example of some insights of cyber crime during Covid :-
- Online scams spiked by more than 400% in March 2020 compared to previous months, according to international law firm Reed Smith, while Google revealed it was blocking more than 18 million malware and phishing emails related to COVID-19 every day.
- Data breaches resulted in 36 billion records being exposed in the first three quarters of 2020, according to Risk Based Security research. Despite this, the number of publicly reported breaches decreased by 51% compared to the same time last year.
- The use of malware increased by 358% through 2020, and ransomware usage increased by 435% compared to the previous year, according to a study by Deep Instinct. July 2020 alone saw a 653% increase in malicious activity compared to the same month in 2019.
Cybercrime Increased by 200% during Corona pandemic
-COVID-19 caused business lives and a significant amount of regular activities to move online. As businesses and individuals across the globe started to rely more on digital activities, hackers leveraged the situation to wreak havoc across the world. Tackling cyber incidents became a top concern for businesses and caused the global cost of cybercrime to rise to $6 trillion USD by the end of 2021.
Types Of Cyber Attack During Covid -19 Pandemic
- Brute Force Attacked:-When the world went into lockdown in March 2020, the total number of bruteforce attacks against remote desktop protocol (RDP) jumped from 93.1 million worldwide in February 2020 to 277.4 million 2020 in March—a 197 per cent increase
- Data breaches- #Recent data breaches @Airtel -2. 5 million users Name, D. O. B, Phone number, Address up for sale worth 3,500 dollars. @Unacedemy -22 million User name, Pasword and email went for sale
- Information-stealing Scams-These scams were designed by hackers to steal information from businesses and individuals. The websites used for this purpose looked real and seemed to provide legitimate information about COVID-19 but had malware embedded in reality. For example, a global map of COVID-19 cases was created with malware beneath it.
- Fake Products: Several websites were designed to sell fake products including coronavirus remedies, masks, and other protective gears without actually providing the user with any product.
Statistics of Cyber Attacks Around the World
1) 2.6 Billion Cyber Attacks Across Latin America and the Caribbean
-The cybersecurity firm Fortinet recorded more than 2.6 billion cyberattacks across Latin America and the Caribbean. Most of these were brute-force attacks that involved discovering the access information with multiple automated attempts to guess the passwords.
2) 667% Spike in Email Phishing
Security firm Barracuda Networks reported a whopping 667% increase in email phishing attacks since February 2020. Most of these attacks capitalized on the fear around the pandemic. These email phishing attacks had three themes i.e. business email compromise, brand impersonation, and scam.
3) Brute Force Attacks Grew by 400%
The multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider Kaspersky observed a 400% increase in brute force attacks for remote desktop protocols (RDPs). Most of these attacks took place during mandatory quarantine and stay-at-home orders implemented across the globe.
4) Malicious Office Documents Up by 176%-
Internet security company SonicWall reported increasing numbers of enterprise security threats involving workplace documents i.e. Microsoft Office. The hackers attempted to leverage the security gaps in the work from home environments and increase malicious document drops by 176%.
5) 105% Spike in Ransomware–
According to the 2020 Cyberthreat report by Sonicwall, there has been a 105% spike in ransomware threats. During these attacks, the targeted user was provided with malicious files to gain access to confidential data and asked for a ransom.
During the pandemic, people lost thousands of dollars to online frauds and scams. A report by the US Federal Trade Commission noted that American citizens lost more than $12 million to 16,800 Coronavirus scams and incidents.
7) 450 WHO Emails and Passwords Leaked
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 450 active email addresses along with passwords were leaked online. This incident impacted an extranet system mostly used by the current staff, retired personnel, and partners as well.
8) 400% Increase in Cyberattack Complaints
According to DIGIGUARD, there has been a 400% increase in cyberattack reports since the beginning of the pandemic. Most of these complaints were related to cybersecurity incidents that affected individuals and small to mid-sized businesses.
9) 30,000+ COVID-19 Scam and Malware Sites
RiskIQ, the cybersecurity company, observed the existence of more than 30,000+ COVID-19 websites that were scams. Most of these websites were either offering fake cures or used for distributing malware.
10) 530,000+ Zoom Accounts Available on the Dark Web for Sale
530,000+ account details and passwords of the video conferencing app Zoom were observed to be on sale on the dark web. This was first discovered by Cybele, an online security firm.
How Do We Prevent Us From Cyber Crimes:-
I will give a very short and sweet answer to this question. Everybody will understand it.
There are 10 way I am mentionig to prevent your computer from a serious cyber attack:
1.Download applications from trusted sources
2.Install, use, and regularly update antivirus and antispyware software on all business computers and devices.
3.Setup a firewall for your internet connection to prevent unauthorized private network access.
4.Download and install software updates for your operating systems and applications as available.
5.Make frequent backup copies of important business data and information.
6.Control physical access to your computers and network components based on need and job responsibilities.
7.Secure your wi-fi networks and create a secondary connection for visitors.
8.Require individual user accounts for each employee to eliminate sharing login information and unintentionally exposing access to uninvited users.
9.Limit employee access to data and information and restrict authority to install software.
10.Regularly change and securely store passwords.
Conclusion
It has been largely observed that the Covid 19 pandemic has both the advantages and disadvantages .
As during the lockdown period in india the cyber fraud has increased at very rapid rate which targets people with fake job letter, KYC verification, fake social media profiles by that they looted innocent people.
The maximum number of cyber crime was reported between march and september of 2020 atleast 4000 per month. There are 1.41 lakh people were cheated using fake website during the lockdown. On the another hand normal crimes like violence, mob rioting, robbery ,Theft almost become negligible as the lockdown shut them lock in their home. These crime decrease by almost 40 percent on an average during the pandemic time. This were one of the positive impact that covid-19 has on our society
. I remembered the famous saying that “Everything has its positive and negative consequences “
Thank You 🙏🙏🙏
