According to security firm Kaspersky, cybercriminality has risen sharply over the past years mainly because of the spreading of online and mobile banking. Indeed, these platforms are often subject to data theft and fraud usually carried out through phishing operations – fraudulent emails requesting personal banking details.
In 2016, phishing attacks represented about 47% of cybercriminal activities, a 13% increase compared to 2015. Although firms are striving to educate customers about security, too many people still fall into the fraudsters’ trap. Hackers target banks,
paymentA transfer of funds which discharges an obligation on the part of a payer vis-à-vis a payee. More systems and e-commerce such as Apple Store or Amazon redirecting consumers to fake websites to steal their login information. According to security specialists, hundreds of copycat websites are closed every month. Besides, Trojans have also become dramatically popular among hackers and rose by 30.5% in 2016, affecting more than 1.089 million individuals.
Finally, criminals are taking advantage of the proliferation of mobile banking apps and create fraudulent games or weather forecast apps to hide malwares. Sensitive banking data located in the smartphone will be captured by the malware once the fake app is opened. Experts believe that smartphones will become the new target of hackers, not only through fake applications but also via unsecured Wi-Fi networks. In 2016, Kaspersky detected no less than 128,000 fraudulent app installation attempts, and this might be just the beginning.
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