Spain registered more 305,000 computer crimes in 2021, or 6.1 percent more According to the data recorded in the previous year according to the Criminal Statistics System (SEC). This is one of the recent conclusions of the General Directorate of Coordination and Research, corresponding to the Ministry of the Interior, of the Secretary of State for Security of the Spanish Government.
This organization released the ‘IX Report on Cybercrime in Spain’ last year, an analysis that compiles data on computer crime recorded by the State Security Forces and Bodies and takes into account the results of organizations such as the SEC and the Office. Cyber Security Coordination (OCC). Specifically, based on the results of surveys conducted by organizations such as the National Institute of Statistics (INE), attacks reported in 2021 are taken into account to compare with previous years and to know the status of computer crime in Spain. As Europeans ( EUROSTAT).
According to the summary, threats to cyber security are among the aims of public institutions, but the society should also be aware of the current uses of information technologies (ICT) in the world.
In this sense, the data compiled by INE, in 2021, increased the percentage digit computer and internet accessCompared to 2020. This increase positioned Spain above the EU average for the percentage of homes with a network and connection.
But they emphasize from the report that the increase in the number of internet users and connections is a direct result of the growth of cybercrime.
According to data from the Statistical Crime System (SEC) on this phenomenon in Spain, the increase in computer crime in the period between 2017 and 2021 is confirmed. In fact, a total of 305,477 facts were known last year, 6.1 percent more than the previous year. This figure corresponds to 87.4 percent fraud computer scientists and 5.7 percent to threats and coercion from cyber crooks.
However, the report distinguishes between known and clarified facts and cases where arrests and investigations were made as a result of attacks. For this reason, while 305,477 frauds are recorded in these ways, only 46,141 people were clarified only 13,801 resulted in the arrest of some malicious actors and the investigation of the incidents.
Geographical distribution of cybercrime in 2021, Community of Madrid, Catalonia, Andalusia and Valencia It is among the Autonomous Communities with the highest concentration of criminal offenses in this area. Likewise, at the provincial level, Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia, Alicante, Malaga and Vizcaya top the list.
More male victims
Cybercriminals use different techniques for different purposes in this country, but the attacks that record the highest percentages are threats, discovery and disclosure of secrets, and computer attacks.
The data on the grievances recorded by the Security Forces and Bodies determine that the majority of cybercrime victims belong to cybercrime. male (51.9% in total) and aged 26-40 years. In this case, men fall into the traps of hacking, threats and coercion, as highlighted in the report.
On the other hand, when it comes to usurpation of marital status, crimes against honor, or crimes committed for sexual purposes with minors (called groomsmen), it is women who outnumber men in percentage. .
Regarding the nationality of the victims, the report determines: 87.5 of them are Spanish and the remaining 12.5% are foreigners.. In this case, the majority are from Morocco, Romania and Colombia.
However, the report on the nationality of those arrested or investigated for criminal activities in this field, 79.3 percent of participating users are Hispanic. The remaining 20.7 percent correspond to European citizens (5%), Americans (8.7%), Africans (4.7%), and Asians (0.8%), among other nationalities.
The majority of people arrested or investigated for cybercrime in 2021 were aged 46-40 (1,720), 18-25 (871) and 41-50 (709 cybercriminals in total).
in the European Union
This report also references 2017 because in June of that year the European Union a common diplomatic response framework EU’s malicious cyber activity
Since then, and despite the fact that this framework was created in May 2019, the institutions themselves have taken a number of measures to provide greater resilience to security. Among them, a creation european digital identity.
In member states, scammers often ransomware or ransomware programs According to data compiled by the European Information Network Security Agency (ENISA) and recovered in this report, to carry out their attacks, the average price of ransoms is doubled.
Malware was reduced by 43 percent. malicious crypto mining remains the most common payment method Phishing among cybercriminals and related to covid-19 continues to dominate email threats.
Along the same lines and with regard to data security breaches, analysis is a Increase in attacks in healthcare He said that the pandemic is one of the main topics of disinformation attacks.