This emerges from the Federal Cybercrime 2021 situation published today by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). The increase in the importance of cybercrime, which has already been noted in recent years, continues. The development is an expression of the progressive shift of crime into the digital space. In particular, the increasing interlinking of international supply chains and the further accelerated digitalization, including due to the corona pandemic, are creating a multitude of new opportunities for cybercriminals.

The clearance rate remained at a low level of 29.3 percent.

The reasons for this include increased anonymization online and the complex investigation of perpetrators who are often abroad. The cybercrime phenomenon also continues to be characterized by an above-average number of unreported cases, as crimes very often go unreported.

In particular, Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and the hybrid forms of attack used as well as the activities of cyber actors involved show the wide range of cyber attacks that can also have an impact beyond the immediate parties to the conflict. These developments have the potential to serve as a further catalyst for cybercrime.

Cybercrime continues to be one of the phenomena with the highest potential for damage in Germany.

According to the 2021 economic protection report, the cybercrime damage in Germany calculated by the industry association Bit-kom eV amounted to 223.5 billion euros annually and is therefore more than twice as high as in 2019. In the ransomware area alone, the annual damage has increased to 24 EUR .3 billion, almost fivefold since the last survey.

“The federal situation report shows that the threat from cybercrime remains very high. In addition to the purely monetary damage, ransomware attacks on companies, critical infrastructures and public administration or entire supply chains also impaired the functioning of the community at home and abroad. The threat potential has increased significantly again in 2021, particularly in the area of ​​ransomware,” said BKA Vice President Martina Link.

There was also another qualitative and quantitative increase in DDoS attacks in 2021. In particular, their complexity continues to increase. DDoS aims to overload websites, servers and networks and thus cause services to be unavailable. A variety of different industries have been affected by this type of cyberattack. In addition to financial service providers, hosting providers, learning and vaccination portals, the focus last year was also on public institutions and - primarily in the run-up to Christmas - e-commerce.

The year 2021 once again highlighted the increasing adaptability of cybercrime actors. They act with increasing professionalism and a high level of division of labor according to the “Crime-as-a-Service” model. Nevertheless, the investigative authorities have regularly succeeded in striking significant blows against crime in cyberspace over the past year. Prominent examples include the takedown of the Emotet infrastructure, the VPN service provider vpnlab.net and the important darknet marketplace Hydra Market.

By filing a criminal complaint early, law enforcement authorities can take quick and effective measures against criminal cyber groups. With specialized departments and 24/7 availability, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the state police are available to affected companies and institutions at any time and with comprehensive expertise.

Close and trusting cooperation between law enforcement authorities and private companies - even before an actual attack - is a clear success factor for effective measures to curb cybercrime.

“Ultimately, the fight against cybercrime can only be successful together: in the triad of threat-defense and repressive measures, preventive IT security precautions and sufficient awareness of citizens and companies regarding the dangers and entry vectors of cybercrime,” concludes Martina Link.

The complete Federal Cybercrime Situation Report 2021 can be found here: Federal Cybercrime Situation Report 2021 (PDF, 2MB)

Also read: Cybercrime benefits from new scams, old mistakes and human vulnerability


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )