Mexico. Comstor outlines the current situation of cybercrime in Mexico to achieve more efficient ways to protect your company and your customers, since cybercrime in our country causes a volume of losses of US $ 575 billion dollars.
Cybercrime is the name given to crimes committed in digital environments, which involve any and all illegal activity on the Internet, also covers a variety of practices such as: invasion of systems, dispersion of viruses, kidnapping of personal and business data, ideological falsehood, access to confidential information (phishing), and cyberterrorism, among others.
It is necessary to understand that any crime, even conventional ones such as theft, defamation, libel or slander, can be included in this group if they use electronic devices or digital actions as a support for their realization.
According to data from the Organizations of the United States of America, in information released at the opening of the workshop "Towards the National Cyber Security Strategy", held last April in Mexico City, globally, cybercrime has generated losses of US $ 575 billion, which represents 0.5% of the Mexican Gross Domestic Product. In addition, it has been found that most of this type of attack occurs through the infection of computers with malicious code and attack on the data center of institutions.
The Federal Police recorded, based on complaints made, that, in 2016, 61% of cyberattacks occurred from malicious codes, 13% in critical infrastructures, 11% through phishing or ideological falsehood and 95% through unauthorized logical access, being that, in some cases, more than one attack front has been used.
To these data, the study developed by ISTR in 2016 adds that promotions, or fake offers, cause 51% of malware attacks in Mexico, in addition to reporting that, in relation to the event of attacks via social networks, or social media scan, the country is in first place among the countries of Latin America in the ranking of those that have suffered the most from this type of threat.
Regarding the crimes committed through ideological falsehood, Carlos Ayala, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, has affirmed in a meeting with his colleagues that the Attorney General's Office has reported losses of $120 million pesos. Ayala also stated that, between the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2017, the Cyber Security Unit attended to just over 7.8,000 ministerial requests, 46,000 citizen reports about damage and more than 165,000 digital security incidents.
As a way to optimize the capacity to prevent, respond and manage problems related to the security of data and networks, the Mexican Federal Police launched in March of this year, a Cybersecurity campaign.
The main objective of the efforts made by the organs is to promote culture and knowledge about the responsible use of new technologies and the Internet, offering conferences by experts in the area in all states, addressing issues such as: identification of antisocial behaviors on the Internet, exploration and abuse of children and adolescents, financial and personal data security, virtual identity protection mechanisms and what are the reporting channels.
With these initiatives, it is expected to take fewer risks and reduce the number of attacks and losses due to cybercrimes, offering the community and companies better prevention conditions, expanding that protection capacity to ordinary citizens.
The main suggestions of experts about cybercrime security are to always remain vigilant while browsing the Internet, avoiding opening suspicious email files and malicious attachments, mainly in the format .exe or sent by unknown senders.
In addition, it is essential that users and companies keep their antivirus and firewalls updated, so in business environments it is always necessary to look for products that fit the needs of the business.
