Close Menu
  • Science
  • Techonology
    • AI
    • Tech News
  • Finance
  • Contact US
  • More
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Disclaimers
    • Terms and Conditions

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

What's Hot

Is SNL New Tonight or a Repeat? May 24 Host & Musical Guest

May 25, 2025

Knicks frustrated as lapses on defense put them in 2-0 hole

May 25, 2025

The Bombing of Pan Am 103 review – this kind, cheesy Lockerbie show just doesn’t work as TV | Television

May 25, 2025
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Vimeo
SkyMagzines
Subscribe Login
  • Home
  • News

    Breaking: Joe Biden Diagnosed with Advanced Prostate Cancer – Former President Faces Aggressive Hormone-Sensitive Diagnosis

    May 19, 2025

    The Impact of the Recent Caribbean Earthquake: What You Need to Know

    February 9, 2025

    Tragedy Strikes as Hugh Douglas, Son of Former Eagles Defender and 94.1 WIP Host, Killed in Car Crash

    September 6, 2023

    What is Labor Day – A Celebration of Workers’ Contributions

    September 4, 2023
  • Lifestyle
  • Privacy Policy
  • DCAM Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact US
SkyMagzines
  • Home
  • Technology
  • World
  • Lifestyle
Home » Cybercrime is world’s third-largest economy thanks to booming black market
Hacking tutorials

Cybercrime is world’s third-largest economy thanks to booming black market

Sky MagzinesBy Sky MagzinesAugust 28, 2023No Comments6 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr WhatsApp VKontakte Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

Cybercrime has grown to become the world’s third-largest economy after the US and China, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). Based on data from Cybersecurity Ventures, it is projected to cost the world $8 trillion in 2023 and $10.5 trillion by 2025.

Anyone can buy access to networks and ransomware online, which is one of the main drivers of this growth, Gordon told Cybernews in an interview. Threat actors do not need technical skills to launch sophisticated cyber or ransomware attacks, she said.

“There are more players in the game because all of these tools are readily available, so you don’t really need to do anything,” Gordon said.

Cybercriminals are also ready to exploit security gaps resulting from the rapid adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) – or systems of connected devices – across healthcare, education, and business sectors.

In addition to financially motivated criminals and nation-state actors that target critical infrastructure for material gain, Russia’s war in Ukraine has also seen the rise of politically motivated hacktivists, further contributing to the growing economy of cybercrime.

Discover

How I fuzz and hack APIs?

200 malicious Android and iOS apps draining bank accounts

Ransom boom

Ransom demands are soaring, and cybercriminals have grown greedier after a high-profile attack against Colonial Pipeline, which cost the company $4.4 million in extortion in 2021.

“When they’re targeting organizations that are paying it within days or without even thinking, that’s encouraging other threat actors to say – we need to up our game,” Gordon said.

The average ransom payment has gone up to $800,000, according to last year’s Sophos research. The latest report from Nozomi warned that cyber insurance could be partly to blame for that.

“Cybercriminals are conducting reconnaissance on cyber insurance claims policies and tailoring their ransom requests to match the amount of a cyber insurance payout,” Nozomi’s report read.

Rather than relying on insurers, companies should invest in cyber prevention, protections, and remediation as a first line of defense, it said. Many insurers are starting to refuse to pay ransoms anyway.

While some victims believe making an extortion payment is still the easiest way out of the ransom attack, others are following suit. As a result, revenue from ransomware dropped by 40% in 2022 based on some metrics, according to a report by Chainalysis.

colonial_2
Colonial Pipeline heeded ransom demands in 2021. Image by Shutterstock

IoT-targeted attacks

According to the WEF State of the Connected World report, some 73% of experts globally lack confidence that connected devices are properly secure. They are right to be worried, Gordon said.

“I’m right along with them. These devices really aren’t secure,” she said, adding that cyber security is often an “afterthought” to many organizations.

“They’re just thinking of efficiency. How is this going to reduce manual labor, increase profits, revenue? They’re not thinking about security,” Gordon said.

This is reflected in the statistics, which show that both private and governmental organizations, as well as individual users, are increasingly susceptible to cyberattacks due to the rapid adoption of the IoT.

According to WEF, 1.5 billion IoT-targeted attacks were recorded in the first half of 2021, a 15.1% increase from the previous year. “If threat actors are doing this, it’s because they’re successfully exploiting these IoT devices,” Gordon said.

Nozomi’s “honeypots” – devices it purposefully configured as IoT devices – showed that malicious botnets are loaded with default credentials such as usernames and passwords because organizations don’t change them.

“A lot of the firmware isn’t updated. It’s kind of like people just buy it, deploy it, and then kind of forget about it unless an attack happens,” Gordon said. “Threat actors know this, so they’re preloading the botnets with basic credentials like admin:1234. That’s a big concern.”

Nozomi’s research also showed that China was the most common attack source location, followed by the US and South Korea. It does not mean that threat actors necessarily come from these places – only that this is where most compromised devices are located.

“It could mean that the threat actor is leveraging a compromised device that’s in that country,” Gordon said. “But also some of these places don’t have really good policies on security. So those devices may just be more vulnerable to being compromised than in other places.”

When it comes to IoT security, organizations “should really be more on top of it,” she said, warning that botnet attacks are “definitely” going to intensify.

“Just change the password and make sure that you’re patching,” Gordon said.

Attacks on critical infrastructure

Taking time to fix a problem or implement an upgrade can be more challenging in operation technology environments based on real-time data. These are most often found in critical infrastructure sensitive to disruptions.

“When you’re dealing with a petrochemical facility or the power grid, or a pipeline, you just don’t want to disrupt those types of environments,” Gordon said. It means organizations involved in critical infrastructure schedule upgrades – and can be vulnerable in the meantime.

“It’s like a catch-22. You want to upgrade as much as possible, but you can’t because you’ll cause disruptions in your environment,” Gordon said.

She added: “There needs to be a program in place to say – we know there are 100 patches you have to do, but these are the most critical ones. These are the ones you need to get to right away.”

Healthcare facilities have become “a prime target” for cybercriminals due to the sensitive nature of their data, according to Nozomi’s report, which poses a unique threat. “In healthcare, an attack could mean loss of life,” Gordon noted.

There has also been an increase in attacks against the transportation sector, with railways particularly enticing to different sets of threat actors, including cybercriminals, but also nation states and hacktivists.

“It’s a little bit scary because now you have a lot of threat groups to worry about instead of just one that’s targeting critical infrastructure,” Gordon said.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has seen the rise of politically-motivated attacks on critical infrastructure, including the use of highly destructive wiper malware. Its sole goal is to destroy sensitive data and cause damage.

“The only thing that’s going to save you is strong current backups,” Gordon said.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr WhatsApp Email
Previous ArticleOpenAI launches ChatGPT Plus, starting at $20 per month
Next Article TURNS OUT USING CHATGPT IN SEARCH ENGINES WOULD HAVE A GRISLY ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT
Sky Magzines
  • Website
  • Tumblr
  • LinkedIn

If You Want To Ask Any Question... Let Us Know in Comment Section.

Related Posts

Elon musk whines that buying twitter has been emotionally “painful”.

August 28, 2023

Company builds facility that lifts and lowers 24-Ton bricks to store energy.

August 28, 2023

Elon Musk Lost $13 Billion on 4/20

August 28, 2023

An AI-powered videogame just came out and gamers hate it

August 28, 2023
Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Is SNL New Tonight or a Repeat? May 24 Host & Musical Guest

May 25, 2025

Knicks frustrated as lapses on defense put them in 2-0 hole

May 25, 2025

The Bombing of Pan Am 103 review – this kind, cheesy Lockerbie show just doesn’t work as TV | Television

May 25, 2025

Rudy Gobert is crushing the Timberwolves in the most expected way

May 25, 2025
Top Posts

Steve Wozniak: If you want to learn about AI killing people, “Get a Tesla”

August 28, 202313,444 Views

OpenAI CEO Predicted AI Would Either End the World as We Know It, or Make Tons of Money

August 28, 20236,525 Views

RESEARCHERS SUCCESSFULLY TURN ABANDONED OIL WELL INTO GIANT GEOTHERMAL BATTERY

August 28, 20233,064 Views

Elon musk buys ten thousand GPUs for secretive AI project

August 28, 20232,846 Views
Don't Miss
World News

Is SNL New Tonight or a Repeat? May 24 Host & Musical Guest

By Sky MagzinesMay 25, 20250

Summer is nearly upon us, but the 20 episodes of Saturday Night Live Season 50 are well…

Knicks frustrated as lapses on defense put them in 2-0 hole

May 25, 2025

The Bombing of Pan Am 103 review – this kind, cheesy Lockerbie show just doesn’t work as TV | Television

May 25, 2025

Rudy Gobert is crushing the Timberwolves in the most expected way

May 25, 2025
Stay In Touch
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Vimeo

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest creative news from SmartMag about art & design.

About Us

Your source for the lifestyle news. This demo is crafted specifically to exhibit the use of the theme as a lifestyle site. Visit our main page for more demos.

We're accepting new partnerships right now.

Email Us: info@skymagines.com
Contact: +1-320-0123-451

Facebook X (Twitter) Pinterest YouTube WhatsApp
Our Picks

Is SNL New Tonight or a Repeat? May 24 Host & Musical Guest

May 25, 2025

Knicks frustrated as lapses on defense put them in 2-0 hole

May 25, 2025
Most Popular

What Is Fiat Money?

August 28, 20230 Views

Best Construction Loan Lenders

August 28, 20230 Views
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
  • Home
  • Technology
  • World
  • Lifestyle
© 2025 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

Sign In or Register

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below.

Lost password?