AI has been used by criminals to launch attacks online

Hackers are drawn to the education and research sectors

AI has been used by criminals to launch internet attacks. Every organisation in many nations, including Germany, is subject to hundreds of cyberattacks each week. In an interview with German media, Holger Munch, President of Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), stated that "the threat of cyber crimes is increasing year by year, and on some occasions, these crimes cause considerable economic and societal devastation.

According to Munch, the most recent targets of cybercriminals have been universities, medical practises, and governmental administrative entities. These assaults can have an extensive effect. For several weeks, for instance, the government might be unable to function, he warned.

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What do attackers do?

The police officer issued a warning about the need to strengthen security against cyberattacks. Germany still has a lot of unencrypted systems. These systems are the source of extensive data theft. If the technical boundaries are relatively low, Munch said, "criminals are more and more drawn to them."

Even if the cybercriminals are detected, a state of helplessness is constantly highlighted. The police claim that foreigners are typically the assailants. There is a lengthy process one must go through before taking action. It is also necessary to enlist the aid of foreign organisations during this time.

In the recent past, efforts to take action against unlawful internet markets like Hydra Market or hawala services like Chipmixer have been successful. Even yet, Munch claims, "In these two cases, we have seized a total of about 100 million euros. This money was obtained through the criminal underworld, its clients, and the associated equipment.

How many cyberattacks occur each week?

The statistics for the first three months of 2023 have been presented by Check Point Research (CPR), a company that monitors the internet. These quarterly statistics show that every organisation in Germany experiences 894 cyberattacks on average each week. This rate has increased by 2% since 2022.

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There are about 1,044 cyberattacks every week in Austria, a member of the European Union and Germany's neighbour. This year, 914 cyberattacks have been reported against Swiss organisations weekly.

 

In terms of the entire world, there has been a 7% increase in cyberattacks between January 2023 and March 2023, according to CPR's cyber experts. Educational and scientific organisations are the main targets of online fraudsters.

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Online ransom demands that involve data theft or system corruption are also on the rise. Every week, ransomware targets one out of every 31 businesses worldwide. The majority of cybercriminals target African nations. There are 1983 cyberattacks every week, on average.

AI is being used by cybercriminals.

Fast hackers have reportedly begun utilising cutting-edge artificial intelligence capabilities, according to CPR. Hackers recently used ChatGPT to prepare the code in one instance. Experts claim that using ChatGPT to code, even inexperienced internet criminals can launch cyberattacks.

 

The examination also showed that the supply chain was compromised by the improper use of the 3CXDesktop application.