Exprivia's Cybersecurity Observatory registers a rise in cyber crimes in the final quarter of the year almost five times that of the first quarter.
Finance is one of the worst hit sectors, mainly due to the increase in cashless payments.
Email and social networks the main traps. Medical devices targeted.

After months of fluctuation, back on the rise at the end of the year are cyber crimes in Italy; with a peak in December, 2020 was a complex year also with regard to online security.

According to the final report of 2020 on cyber threats in Italy drawn up by Exprivia's Cybersecurity Observatory, in the October-December period 237 cyber crimes were recorded, up by 60% on the previous quarter and almost 400% on the January-March period, when there were only 49. March marked the watershed in the rise in cyber crime: with the start of the pandemic and the resulting spread of smart working, there was an upsurge in cyber attacks, privacy breaches and incidents in all sectors of the economy and the public administration.

Exprivia's Observatory - engaged in spreading the culture of cyber security – reports that the phenomena, besides the huge number of devices connected to the internet, are linked to the exponential growth in digital transactions, including online shopping and bank transactions, especially in the last part of the year. In particular, according to the report - which examined over 50 public sources of information - the month of December is, with 96 crimes, the one that registered the record number of the year.

“While the pandemic accelerated the digitisation of our country, internet security was seriously put to the test - stated Domenico Raguseo, Exprivia's Cybersecurity Director. What surprised us the most was that the weakness most exploited by attackers is the human factor. So all of us – Raguseo adds - must be aware of the risks that exist online and begin to be wary of anomalies. For example, of the unexpected videos or gifs we receive on instant messaging apps, of the syntax errors contained in suspect emails, of fake domains in email addresses or of the sudden speed with which we can browse on the pc. We are the first to be able to protect ourselves from attackers”.

Throughout 2020, over 60% of crimes resulted in data theft, greatly exceeding both privacy breaches (13% of cases) – almost tripled since the start of the year – and money losses (10%).

The techniques most exploited by cybercriminals during 2020 count firstly phishing-social engineering with 43% of cases, which particularly affects distracted users or those with little knowledge of how to spot traps via email or social networks. Following this technique are unknowns (24% of total events), namely new methodologies tested by hackers to avoid being detected by traditional defence mechanisms, and malware (23%), whose use has quadrupled over the course of the year.

In 2020 the Public Administration and the Finance sector were the most vulnerable areas and most attacked by cybercriminals, with recorded events being 91 and 81 respectively. Thought-provoking figures, considering the acceleration in the digitalisation of PA services, in the use of banking applications and of digital payments. And highlighted in the financial sphere, particularly vulnerable due to the exposure of sensitive data often without proper protection, is an exponential increase in such phenomena during the year, from the single episode registered between January and March, to 41 in the final quarter, half of all crimes detected in the sector in 2020.

Next, with 41 episodes, is Education, targeted due to the mass use of remote learning by schools and universities. No less hit is the Industry sector which having registered incremental peaks throughout the year, counted 17 crimes in the final quarter alone, almost 50% of the whole of 2020, caused by an increase in devices connected to the net, many without authentication, and also by many episodes of industrial espionage.

In the spotlight of Exprivia's Cybersecurity Observatory are the cybercrime episodes in Healthcare which, hard hit in the middle months of the year, is not on the podium for the number of crimes suffered but deserves attention for the seriousness of those crimes, if we consider the value of healthcare data stolen and used on the ‘dark web’. Also emerging from analysis by Exprivia experts, last year medical devices were exposed to many weaknesses, starting with personal devices used by doctors and patients for remote assistance. In fact, cyber criminals can take control of a device by blocking the service or by tampering with its functions, for the purpose of acquiring sensitive information.

Lastly, experts at Exprivia underline that in the whole year cyber attacks increased by almost eight times compared to the first January-March quarter (from 25 to 199), while incidents, namely attacks that are successful, fluctuated with a peak between April and June (46) and a drop in the months to follow, going down by 40% between the second and the fourth quarter of the year. The attacking techniques are probably more and more complex and it is more difficult to identify cyber criminals effectively and put an actual number on the incidents.
In addition to the report, the Exprivia website www.exprivia.it also has a list of courses organised for training in the field of IT security and risk management.