Cybercrime exploded in Belgium in 2021
The American technology group specializing in Mastercard payments has presented an analysis of cybercrime in Belgium. Worrying cybercrime insofar as it shows that there would have been three times more cyberattacks last year than before the health crisis. But, good news, the study also shows that the Belgian banking sector is better protected against these attacks than the same sector at global and European level. According to a measurement tool, Riskrecon, Belgian banks obtain a security score of 8.43, well above the European average, at 7.98, and the global one, at 8.13.
“Cyberattacks can be devastating for businesses, especially small ones, potentially putting them out of business. Yet despite being routinely shut down as the target of hackers, 50% are unprepared for it. to face”explained Rigo Van den Broeck, Executive Vice President & Cyber Security Product Innovation at Mastercard.
And to propose in the process to companies that would consider themselves concerned that the company Riskrecon, a subsidiary of Mastercard, allows companies’ systems to be tested free of charge in order to assess their degree of vulnerability to cyberattacks. Businesses can be targeted because these targets are big reporters to criminals. Mastercard refers to a figure published in 2019 by Accenture: cybercrime would cause damage for 6,000 billion dollars annually. In Belgium, according to the report, around 1,000 companies were targeted last year. Most attacks were carried out by malware (28.8%), ransomware (26.4%), social engineering (20%).
When we talk about cybercrime, we first think of ransoms paid in cryptocurrencies, money. However, according to Mastercard, it is before all the data that is sought during the attacks, in 69% of cases, before the money (16.2%). Why steal data? In 71.1% of cases, to monetize them since, apparently, these data are sold at a very high price. Then, to use the stolen information for political purposes. Indeed, according to figures included in the study, governments (24%) and financial institutions (21%) are the preferred targets of cybercriminals.
How to protect this data and these systems? For Rigo Van den Broeck, it is first necessary to know where there are still doors of entry, within companies it is necessary to inform about the risks and to analyze the behavior of employees, to avoid free programs and to make sure to know with whom on interacts digitally.