The key point of the cybercrime report : around 46,000 reported cases mean an increase of 29 percent compared to 2020. At the same time, the clearance rate has increased slightly and is now 37 percent.
Top crime: Internet fraud
The most common crimes are internet fraud, which accounts for half of all advertisements, as well as attacks on data and computer systems. The most recent example was the attack on the state of Carinthia, said Karner.
Bundle of measures against cybercrime
“The Ministry of the Interior has taken a package of measures. We have increased the staff in the Cybercrime Competence Center and developed the criminal service reform with cyber investigators at district level.”
Interior Minister Karner
Secondly, as an authority for network and information system security, the Ministry of the Interior works closely with companies, the Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Industrialists and NGOs. The third area concerns the fight against deep fakes.
“We have adopted the National Action Plan because fake news can affect everyone and even entire nations.”
Interior Minister Karner
Karner mentioned the topic of self-protection as a fourth point.
"It is particularly important for the Ministry of the Interior that we as an organization are best prepared for an attack, which is why the BMI's new business division was recently presented, in which the 'cybersecurity' area plays an important role."
Interior Minister Karner
Digitization State Secretary Florian Tursky outlines his goals:
“Due to the increased volume of data and the increasing networking of technologies, the risk of cyber attacks is also increasing. The likelihood of being attacked digitally has never been greater in the past than in 2021. Thanks to the Internet of Things, more than 75 billion devices worldwide will be connected to the Internet by 2025. I therefore want to put digital glasses on Austria so that both private individuals and entrepreneurs can take advantage of the opportunities offered by digitalization in the future and also better assess the dangers of the Internet. A whole-of-society approach to raising awareness is needed here. I see it as my job to broaden this knowledge.”
Digitization State Secretary Florian Tursky
Cybercrime areas
The Federal Criminal Police Office divides the total number of crimes into two sub-areas: cybercrime in the narrower and broader sense. The former rose by 19.9 percent compared to the previous year to 15,484 reported crimes. The crimes were directed against networks, devices, services or data in these networks (e.g. data corruption, hacking or DDoS attacks). As in the previous year, the most common form of offense was fraudulent misuse of data processing, with 12,701 cases reported. The number of reports of misuse of computer programs and access data increased by 52.5 percent, including all preparatory actions for cybercrime crimes.
“As criminal police, we must always be one step ahead of the criminals, prepare for threatening scenarios and phenomena in advance and clarify, warn and investigate. This is the only way we can deprive the criminals of their business basis and ultimately arrest them.”
Manuel Scherscher, deputy director of the Federal Criminal Police Office
Cybercrime in the broader sense refers to crimes in which information and communication technology is used as a means of planning, preparing and executing traditional criminal offenses, such as fraud, drug trafficking on the Darknet, pornographic depictions of minors on the Internet, cybergrooming or cyberbullying. Most reported crimes in this area involve internet fraud. This rose by 19.5 percent and reached a new high in 2021 with 22,440 reported cases (2020: 18,780). In terms of cybercrime as a whole, internet fraud represents almost half of all reports.
Internet blackmail
Other crime on the Internet also increased significantly (2021: 8,255 reported cases, 2020: 4,221). Blackmail via mass extortion emails and ransomware infections have increased significantly. The number of dangerous threats and persistent persecutions as well as internet drug-related crimes have also increased. Online child abuse recorded 1,921 cases (2020: 1,702). The clearance rate in this area increased by 2.6 percent compared to the previous year.
Ransomware
Ransomware has established itself as one of the most important tools used by cyber criminals in recent years. The malware encrypts user data in order to demand a ransom - usually in the form of Bitcoins - to restore it. In recent years, attacks have increasingly been directed against small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which means that the risk potential for the Austrian business landscape remains high. In addition, the extorted contribution is based on the financial strength of the company and in order to emphasize the payment, the company's data is threatened to be published.
COVID-19 pandemic
Cases of internet fraud also increased in the second year of the pandemic due to changing shopping behavior. Fake emails or SMS, malspam, phishing and ransomware still pose a major threat.
outlook
In addition to expanding the number of cyber units in the Federal Criminal Police Office, another strategic focus includes strengthening national and international cooperation between state authorities, private organizations and companies. In order to make investigations on social networks easier, the Cybercrime Competence Center (C4) set up a nationwide, central inquiry point for social media and online service providers (ZASP) in February 2022. The Meta Group is currently the first partner with Facebook and Instagram, and collaboration with other platforms is planned in the future.
The Cybercrime Report 2021 is available at www.bundeskritikamt.at.
Suitable for this? GoodWill ransomware – blackmail for a good deed?
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Notes:
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