Cybercrime

Previously, a single dominant group tended to define the cybercrime landscape. Now, several actors sustain large-scale operations, with the number of distinct actors nearly tripling from 33 to 89 since 2020.

The latest Security Navigator report from Orange Cyber Defense shows that in Europe, victims of Qilin and Akira have risen by 324 percent and 168 percent respectively.

Every year, the holiday season brings a predictable spike in online activity. However, in 2025, new reports suggest the volume of newly created malicious infrastructure, account compromise activity, and targeted exploitation of eCommerce systems is markedly higher.

Fortinet’s FortiGuard labs identified more than 18,000 holiday-themed domains registered in the past three months, including terms such as ‘Christmas,’ ‘Black Friday,’ and ‘Flash Sale.’ At least 750 of these were confirmed malicious. This indicates many domains are still considered non-malicious, posing a potential risk.

A new study from fraud prevention specialist Fingerprint finds 41 percent of over 300 fraud and technology leaders surveyed say their organizations are already facing AI-powered attacks.

These sophisticated threats, which range from generative AI phishing schemes to automated bot attacks, are creating a significant operational crisis. According to the report, 93 percent of fraud teams have seen noticeable operational impacts, with 38 percent of organizations citing higher costs from manual review and triage as a top business concern.

Cybercrime has become a global epidemic, with costs soaring across sectors and borders. But who’s paying the price and how has that changed since the turn of the century?

Researchers from vpnMentor have analyzed 25 years of FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) data along with a review of major global incidents to discover the cost of cybercrime and how it’s evolving.

F-Secure has released new research that suggests a troubling divide between how safe people believe they are online and the dangers they actually face.

The Digital Perception-Reality Gap Report, based on a survey of 9,000 consumers worldwide, suggests that misplaced confidence is leaving large numbers of internet users exposed to cyber crime.

New analysis of recent high-profile breaches and global threat patterns, reveals a cybersecurity landscape dominated by AI-enhanced attacks, organized cybercrime, and rapid exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities.

The research, from compliance automation platform Secureframe, shows critical infrastructure, healthcare, and financial services have become primary targets as threat actors evolve faster than traditional defenses.

As generative AI tools have become more powerful, affordable and accessible, cybercriminals are increasingly adopting them to support attacks, these range from business fraud to extortion and identity theft.

A new report from Trend Micro shows that deepfakes are no longer just hype but are being used in real-world exploitation, undermining digital trust, exposing companies to new risks, and boosting the business models of cybercriminals.

We all know that businesses are facing a raft of more sophisticated cyberthreats, partly driven by AI. We also know that there can be an impact beyond the financial in terms of damage to reputation and loss of customers.

A new report from cyber insurance specialist Hiscox reveals that 67 percent of organizations report increase in attacks and 34 percent of firms have compromised cybersecurity measures due to lack of expertise in managing emerging tech risks.

A new AI security report from Check Point Software shows how cybercriminals are co-opting generative AI and large language models (LLMs) in order to damage trust in digital identity.

At the heart of these developments is AI's ability to convincingly impersonate and manipulate digital identities, dissolving the boundary between authentic and fake.

Initial access brokers (IABs) are the invisible engine of modern cybercrime. They don't execute ransomware attacks, but they do enable them.

Research from Check Point External Risk Management (formerly Cyberint) shows that IABs are increasingly targeting smaller businesses, with 60.5 percent of listings targeting SMBs (companies with $5M - $50M revenue), representing a new 'sweet spot' for attackers.

A new report from Sift reveals an alarming democratization of cybercrime, with 34 percent of consumers seeing offers to participate in payment fraud online, an 89 percent increase over 2024.

The report details how fraudsters openly advertise and sell stolen payment information and fraud services on social media platforms and deep web forums like Telegram, significantly lowering the barrier to entry for anyone to participate in fraudulent activities.

A new report from Darktrace reveals that Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) is now responsible for 57 percent of all cyber threats to organizations, a 17 percent increase from the first half of 2024.

The use of remote access trojans (RATs) has also seen a significant increase in the latter half of last year, representing 46 percent of campaign activity identified, compared to only 12 percent in the first half.

User-friendly fraud kits that enable amateurs to execute complex attacks against thousands of accounts in minutes are widely available on the dark web according to the latest 2024 Report on Global Identity Fraud from AU10TIX.

FaaS platforms provide all the tools, templates and automation that fraudsters need, including deepfake generators to create synthetic selfies and videos, botnets to automate mass-scale account creation and takeover, and phishing kits for email and web-based scams.

The financial services industry is in the midst of an unprecedented AI arms race. Criminal organizations are getting smarter, using cutting-edge tech to launch elaborate attacks on financial systems. In response, financial institutions (FIs) are turning to AI and machine learning (ML) to level the playing field. That’s right -- FIs are keeping pace with their criminal counterparts, thwarting malicious activity much more reliably and efficiently.

Having spent my career at the intersection of finance and technology, I've seen the constant race to stay ahead of evolving criminal operations. Rules-based systems, while foundational, simply can't match the speed and adaptability of modern financial crime. But now, through advanced pattern detection, adaptive defense mechanisms, and dramatically improved accuracy in identifying suspicious activity, AI is fundamentally reshaping how we fight financial crime -- and winning.

Just as shoppers heading online for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals a new report from Bitdefender uncovers interesting parallels with behavior on dark web marketplaces.

Cybercriminals too, it seems, browse for the best deals on an assortment of unconventional goods and services. In a digital underground that mirrors traditional e-commerce in many ways, these markets cater to buyers with specific -- and often illegal needs.