Most of the media is always talking about ransomware and the sums that are being extorted from companies with it. But those totals are small change compared to the $2022 billion BEC - Business Email Compromise losses reported to the FBI in 2,8.
In its 2022 Internet Crime Report, the FBI listed all the financial damages caused by cyber attacks. This adds up to $10,3 billion - and that's just the reported damage. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has a crucial role in combating the cyber threat. The IC3 serves as a public resource for submitting reports. This allows data to be collected, trends to be identified and threats to be tracked. In 2022, IC3 received 800.944 complaints. However, the total potential damage has increased from $6,9 billion in 2021 to more than $10,2 billion in 2022.
$2,7 billion damage with Business Email Compromise
🔎 LockBit 2.0 and 3.0 are responsible for more than a third of all attacks (Image: Trend Micro).
Trend Micro expert Richard Werner has compiled the important points from the FBI report. This may not show the absolute numbers as many cases may not have been reported. But the value of over $2,7 billion shows how much cyber gangsters invest in individual actions. According to Richard Werner, the value will increase further as fraud methods can be refined through AI-controlled voice cloning.
What's behind Business Email Compromise (BEC): BEC is a scam that targets high-ranking companies or individuals who regularly transact remittances with suppliers and/or corporations. Using hacked email accounts and other forms of communication such as phone numbers and applications, employees with withdrawal rights are tricked into making payments through fake email or voice instructions.
Excerpt of some sums from the FBI report for 2022
- BEC $2.742 million
- $34 million ransomware
- Botnet $17 million
- Malware $9 million
- Phishing $52 million
- Extortion $54 million
The FBI's Internet Crime Report 2022 is freely available as a PDF.
Editor/sel
More at IC3.gov