RESEARCH: DAMAGE FROM CYBERCRIME WILL REACH $48 BILLION IN 2023

According to analysts of Juniper Research, by 2023, the damage from cyber fraud will reach 48 billion dollars, which is twice more than the current indicator of $22 billion, which takes into account losses in e-Commerce, online ticket sales and banking services.

The authors of the study from Juniper Research note that the growth of cybercriminals’ income is ahead of the industry development itself, as they often operate in the new technologies forefront, hiding their activity in the flow of legitimate activities.

According to the study, cybercriminals are primarily focused on new mechanisms for transferring funds, where they use social engineering methods, hacking applications and the spread of viruses to access the victims’ financial assets.

Also, scammers are interested in the personal data of Internet users, as the stolen information allows them to create so-called “synthetic identity”, allowing them to disguise themselves in a series of real and fake data. Recall that according to “Kaspersky Lab” latest research, the average cost of a stolen digital user profile is $1 in the DarkNet.

As an example of competing criminal projects, Juniper Research experts cited the campaigns Magecart and Fin7, in which the spread of viruses is combined with a cross-channel approach to the organization of attacks.

The researchers note that since law enforcement agencies do not have enough resources and competencies to block the activities of scammers, they begin to leave the DarkNet and promote their services directly through social networks and messengers, like Facebook and WhatsApp: the authors of the study managed to find stolen data of 15 000 payment cards on Facebook, in the public domain.

The company said that the scale of the global damage from cybercrime will grow to 2.1 trillion dollars by 2019.