The military conflict caused by Russia in neighboring
\nUkraine takes place in cyberspace too. Some researchers are saying that we are
\ntalking about the biggest war of the cybernetic era, and the most significant
\nescalation on both sides. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Early in the conflict, Moscow launched an impressive
\nnumber of destructive attacks against dozens of Ukrainian networks, managing to
\ndamage the Viasat satellite network, and cause grief for Ukraine’s defenses. A
\nfew weeks in, the pace of such attacks went down, and right now, almost a year
\ninto the war, the main cybernetic activity that Russia carries out in relation
\nto Ukraine is intelligence gathering. In addition to challenges caused by the
\nwar, China’s technological advance, and the pandemic, which moved a lot of
\nactivities online, are as many reasons for cyberscurity to be more and more of
\na reason for worry. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In this geopolitical context, with so many uncertainties,
\nthings are sure to stay the same, with organizations at all levels being more
\nand more exposed to the threat of cybercrime. The global costs of cybercrime
\nare expected to go up by 15% per year until 2025, and amount to more than 10
\ntrillion dollars a year, as seen in a report by Cybersecurity Ventures, much
\nhigher than the cumulative profits of drug trafficking worldwide. The new kinds
\nof online fraud will become more elaborate and harder to detect, as computer
\ncrime perpetrators are moving towards using artificial intelligence tools,
\naccording to the National Cybersecurity Directorate in Bucharest. The security
\nof institutions is under careful care by experts and authorities, but regular
\nusers are much more exposed, and need assistance to fend off the many kinds of
\nattacks they are vulnerable to. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Among the most widely used fraud attacks for
\nstealing personal data are phishing attacks by e-mail, which ask for
\nidentifying data through spurious offers, the National Cybersecurity
\nDirectorate in Bucharest warns. At the same time, many misleading messages are
\nalso disseminated on social media and search engines, as explained for Radio
\nRomania by Mihai Rotariu, the head of communication for the directorate, who
\nprovided a few examples:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Mihai Rotariu: As we begin this year, we see an increase in attempts at
\nonline fraud. As usual, the attackers are using the context we are in, and are
\ntrying to take advantage of commercial discounts associated with winter. More
\nto the point, they are launching phishing campaigns using the visual identity
\nof popular brands, which are usually more active during this period. We are
\ntalking about commercial banks, retailers, some online services, and delivery
\nservices. We have even witnessed fraud attempts using the image of some public
\ninstitutions, such as the police, the fiscal authority, or even Europol. Most
\nphishing attacks occur by e-mail, but they can be propagated through social
\nmedia or text messaging, SMS, and the goal of attackers is to harvest personal
\ndata, be they financial or authentication data, mainly by redirecting the
\npotential victim to cloned websites. These are sites that look like the real
\nones, but have a slightly different address, and are in another domain. Which
\nis vital to pay careful attention to the name and security status of a websites
\nwhere we use personal data.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
It is no secret that attackers are relying more and more
\non artificial intelligence, enhancing and automating their activities, adapting
\nto the context better, and having a better rate of success. However, we should
\nnot panic, says Mihai Rotariu: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Mihai Rotariu: If we have cybersecurity routine, and good online
\nhygiene, we should not panic, because we can sidestep about 90% of attacks.
\nWhen I am talking about routine, I am referring to forming reflexes when acting
\nonline, formed just like the ones in real life. For instance, when we cross the
\nstreet, we look right and left and check the traffic light. This is the case
\nwith links we access too. We don’t click on a link from an unknown source
\nbefore running a check on the source, using a security solution. At the same
\ntime, we have to know clearly that most companies that offer online services,
\nespecially banks, would never send e-mails with links for updating or verifying
\nauthentication data. You should never go to websites for, let’s say, online
\nbanking through a link sent by SMS or e-mail, or through sponsored ads, you
\nshould only use the smartphone app. We also recommend you enter the website
\naddress manually in your Internet browser, taking care not to end up carelessly
\non such cloned sites. You should pay close attention to the exact name of the
\ndomain, because attackers substitute digits for letters, and if we rush through
\nthe process we could be fooled into thinking we are on the original site, but
\nin fact we are on the cloned site. Last but not least, pay close attention to
\noffers online that look too good to be true.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Mihai Rotariu added that we should always check with the
\ncompany purporting to make the online promotional offers before acting on the
\npurchase. (C.C.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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