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UK reports £ 5.7 million in cybercrime financial loss so far this year – with one third coming from businesses
British people and businesses have suffered financial losses of
£ 5.7 million from a reported 14,883 cybercrime incidents since the start of the year .
The new study from click fraud prevention experts , PPC Shield , indicates that malicious hacking , fraudulent use of social media accounts and email scams are the most common form of cybercrime so far this year – accounting for 43 % of all reported incidents since January 1 . Also in the high-ranking categories are reports of malware / viruses , personal hacking and extortion .
Data compiled from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau indicates that those under 40 reported the most incidents this year , at a total of 5,000 . This suggests that scammers and hackers are predominantly targeting younger , more tech-savvy generations ; those used to juggling multiple social media accounts , email addresses and banking apps .
Though cybercrime against corporate bodies only accounts for 10 % of the UK ’ s reported offences , their financial losses of £ 1.9 million accounts for a third of the total figure .
Concerning the effects on victims of cybercrime , ONS data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales ( CSEW ) indicates that 72 % of those affected by cybercrime expressed that they had been emotionally affected by their experiences , with almost a third stating a moderate to severe impact as a result of the offence – predominantly annoyance and anger .
A further one in 10 individuals experienced emotions such as anxiety , depression , fear or difficulty sleeping .
South Africa sees a 42 % increase in financial malware in the first half of 2021
combination of increasingly sophisticated propagation
A technologies and continued economic uncertainties resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have seen the number of financial malware attacks reported in South Africa during the first half of 2021 increase by more than 10,400 over the comparative period last year , according to Kaspersky research .
“ Of these attacks , 24 % targeted corporate users . This makes financial malware attacks a significant cybersecurity risk facing the local market today across both the consumer and business sectors ,” said Bethwel Opil , Enterprise Sales Manager at Kaspersky in Africa .
Opil said : “ This increase seen in financial malware attacks in South Africa reiterates the urgent need for cybersecurity awareness training programmes and substantiates our focus around this into the corporate landscape .
“ What is also interesting to note and mention , is that Kenya and Nigeria , two other African countries that we monitor closely , show a different picture , having seen a decrease in financial malware attacks by 68 % and 35 % respectively .”
Local organisations have become susceptible to financial malware as more employees work outside the relative safety of the corporate network . The normalisation of a distributed workforce makes ensuring the protection of the personal endpoint devices of people , who need to access back-end systems to continue performing their job functions , that much more critical . In addition to securing these devices , cybersecurity training of employees remains a key component to defend against the growing scourge of financial malware that uses phishing techniques to target individual users .
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