While cryptocurrency heists and ransomware attacks dominate the headlines (due to their sheer volume and scale), other types of cybercrime have grown in alarming ways as well.  AtlasVPN recently compiled a very compelling accounting and visualization of 2021 cybercrime trends and statistics.  Cybercrimes of note include skyrocketing rates of phishing sites, romance scams, general online-based crime, and Covid-19 scams.  A broad review of all types of threats should inform your organization’s decision intelligence, security, and resilience.

Note:  For a deeper dive, parenthetical footnotes provide the source material on which the research trends and statistics are based.

Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and Ransomware Attacks

To start, the research provides some really solid, insightful, and troubling metrics on the large scale cyber-attacks with which we are all familiar:

• Thieves did not take a break despite the drop in bitcoin prices at the beginning of the year. Hackers and scammers made millions of dollars from attacks on numerous crypto projects and ecosystems.
• During the first quarter of 2022, hackers stole over $1.3 billion in 78 hacking events. The majority of losses resulted from hacks on the Ethereum and Solana ecosystems, with over $1 billion in damages. (1)
• In 2021, the global ransomware volume increased by 105 percent. In addition, thieves targeted the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom with the most ransomware attacks.
• In 2019, there were roughly 188 million ransomware infections worldwide. The next year, in 2020, ransomware threats increased considerably, surpassing 300 million in volume. Both years, however, fall short of the number of ransomware attacks seen in 2021. The number of ransomware attacks more than doubled, hitting 623 million. (2) (3)
• Surprisingly, 151 (45%) of the 337 ransomware victims last year were based in the United States. In a similar vein, ransomware entrapped 39 (12%) of Canadian firms, forcing them to pay a ransom.
• Germany is third on the list, with 26 (8%) firms experiencing a ransomware assault.  The United Kingdom is fourth, and France is fifth, with 17 (5%) and 16 (5%) enterprises, respectively, having been hit by ransomware. (2) (4)

Source:  Atlas VPN

Consistent with our recent coverage of blockchain securities vulnerabilities (see In 2022: $1B in Crypto Blockchain Bridge Heists, Growing National Security Concerns and the Secure Blockchain Initiative and The Ronin DeFi Network Hack and Blockchain Analysis Techniques for Attribution)  blockchain attacks have also skyrocketed in 2022:

Source:  AtlasVPN

• In the last 11 years, more than $12 billion in cryptocurrency has been stolen. Decentralized Finance (DeFi)-related hacks continue to rise, as up to 40% of funds were stolen through fake exchanges.
• DeFi hacks are the latest trend for cryptocurrency cybercriminals. It started in 2020, and hackers stole $149 million of crypto assets from DeFi exchanges. However, losses in DeFi breaches quickly grew in 2021, adding up to $1.7 billion in total, a 1083% increase since the last year.
• Fraudulent exchanges caused most losses.  Major fraudulent crypto platforms have brought a lot of negative and skeptical attention to the industry. While there are plenty of great cryptocurrency exchanges, there are just as many fraudulent ones, which try to prey on people’s lack of knowledge of how to distinguish a legit crypto platform.  Fraudulent exchanges have stolen 40% of all lost crypto assets over 11 years. Fraudulent exchanges are those involved in exit scams, illegal behavior, or whose funds were seized by the government. One of such recent examples is a crypto firm Thodex, which went offline earlier this year, while the company’s CEO ran away with $2 billion of investors’ funds. (1)

Source:  Atlas VPN

Source:  Atlas VPN

Phishing

Google discovered a record-high number of phishing websites last year, with over 2.11 million, representing a 25% increase over 2019.

Source: Atlas VPN

• In 2021, Amazon topped the list as the most impersonated brand in global email phishing assaults. In total, Amazon’s brand name was utilized in 17.7% of brand phishing emails.
• DHL, the world’s largest shipping firm, and DocuSign, a cloud-based electronic signature technology provider, are both closely followed by the trillion-dollar brand, accounting for 16.5 percent and 12.7 percent of brand phishing campaigns, respectively. (5)
• Millennials and Gen Zers in the United States are more prone than their older counterparts to fall for phishing emails. In sum, more than one-fifth (23%) of Generation Z and Millennials had been deceived by phishing emails. (6)
• In the first quarter of 2022, LinkedIn was linked to almost 52% of all phishing schemes worldwide. It’s the first time that a social media network has been used far more frequently than any major giant brand name, such as Apple, Google, or Microsoft.
• In the preceding quarter, LinkedIn was only mentioned in 8% of all phishing attempts worldwide.
• With 14% of phishing efforts imitating the well-known shipping corporation, DHL fell from #1 to second place. FedEx is the only other shipping company on the list. In Q1, the FedEx brand was leveraged in 6% of phishing assaults. (7)
• In 2021, the most impersonated brands in phishing attempts were Microsoft and illicit streaming services. Furthermore, phishing attempts increased significantly in the retail and government sectors last year.
• In 2021, hackers imitated Microsoft product pages in 36.6% of phishing attacks. Other Microsoft products include OneDrive and 365 Office, in addition to Microsoft login websites. In 13.6% of phishing attacks, threat actors resembled unauthorized streaming services. (8)
• In 2016, the FBI’s crime center received 19,465 phishing reports; by 2020, that number had increased by 1140% to 241,342. In 2020, monetary losses connected to phishing totaled $54 million.
• According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, they received a record amount of reports from US residents in 2020, totaling 791,790, up 69% from 2019. Furthermore, from $3.5 billion in 2019 to $4.2 billion in 2020, losses due to internet crime grew by $700 million. (9)

Romance Scams

• The pandemic was a delight for impersonators since it gave them a real reason to avoid meeting up in person. As a result, scammers were able to carry out romantic scams on a far wider scale than before.
• According to the findings, heartbroken victims lost $343 million in the first three quarters of 2021. Perhaps the most surprising discovery is that in 2020 and 2021, people aged 60 to 69 lost substantially more money than any other age group. (1)

Source:  Atlas VPN

$3.5b in American losses to Cybercrime in 2021

• Cybercrime is wreaking havoc across the United States, causing unprecedented losses. Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the buzz surrounding cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and the metaverse to dupe people into investing in fraudulent projects that vanish after raising a large sum of money.
• Using publicly available data, researchers discovered that in the first three quarters of 2021, US citizens had already lost $3.49 billion to cybercrime. You won’t need a calculator to figure out that the damages are $12.78 million each day. (1)

Source:  Atlas VPN

Source:  Atlas VPN

Covid-19 Scams

• Shortly after the pandemic started, fraudsters developed various ways to capitalize on people’s natural curiosity and desire to learn more about pandemic-related issues. These scams range from phishing emails supposedly providing shocking news about the pandemic or documents and benefits fraud that steals the victims’ stimulus checks.
• Malicious spam accounted for approximately 89% of all Covid-19-related cyber threats discovered last year, or roughly 14.5 million attacks. Spam is one of the most simple and accessible cyber-attack strategies, which may explain why it is so popular among hackers.
• Common spam email subject lines ranged from very vague, such as “COVID-19 issue”, “Important message on COVID-19”, to more specific ones, such as “COVID-19/FluA+B Antigen Combo Rapid Test”, which is trying to get readers attention by offering a highly sought after the test for Covid-19.
• Malicious spam accounted for approximately 89% of all Covid-19-related cyber threats discovered last year, or roughly 14.5 million attacks. Spam is one of the most simple and accessible cyber-attack strategies, which may explain why it is so popular among hackers.

More than 16 million Covid-related cyber threats were detected in 2020

 

Source:  Atlas VPN

Further metrics on cybercrime trends and statistics from the research include:

• US Military Personnel Cybercrime Losses
• Malware
• State-by-state statistics
• Cyberattacks on enterprises
• Data leaks
• Virtual Private Network
• Other

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