The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) released their annual report, and the number of complaints have skyrocketed in 2020.
With an almost 70% increase in reported attacks, it's possible that 2020 could have been the most costly year for organizations across the US. The top three crimes that were reported by victims were phishing attacks, non-payment scams, and extortion.
The most notable theme of attack was COVID-19, and the center had almost 30,000 complaints related to pandemic scams. In this graphic provided by IC3, the reports documented from 2019 to 2020 have drastically increased:
Source: IC3
Roger Grimes, KnowBe4's Data-Driven Defense Evangelist, discussed the report with Cybercrime Magazine and unpacked his opinions on the data findings. You can watch the full video of the interview here:
In the interview, Roger believes the numbers are 'the tip of the iceberg'. He also heeds a warning towards social media scams and ransomware, stating that cybercriminals operations is going to be more effective everyday.
It's important for your users to constantly be aware of the latest threats so that your organization does not become a statistic in the next report. New-school security awareness training can teach your users how to stay alert on the most up-to-date trends and report any suspicious behavior.
You can access the report on FBI's website here. Cybercrime Magazine covered the full story here.
New-school Security Awareness Training is critical to enabling you and your IT staff to connect with users and help them make the right security decisions all of the time. This isn't a one and done deal, continuous training and simulated phishing are both needed to mobilize users as your last line of defense. Request your one-on-one demo of KnowBe4's security awareness training and simulated phishing platform and see how easy it can be!
