Top 10 countries with the highest density of cybercrime

Cyber ​​security company Surfshark conducted a study He identified the 10 countries with the highest levels of cybercrime. Accordingly, Germany ranks ninth with 20 victims per million Internet users.

However, the UK, which tops the list, recorded a staggering 4,783 cybercrime incidents per million internet users, nearly 266 times more than Germany. The study also shows that Germany saw a 9% drop in cybercrime compared to 2020 – ranking 10th on the list in this regard.

“Compared to 2020, the number of cybercrime victims worldwide increased by 8%. In the UK, the increase was a staggering 40%. Investments in people’s working knowledge and education is critical, as Agnieszka Sablovskaya, data scientist at Surfshark, said This is proven to be the most important aspect of properly dealing with cyber threats.

The results of the study showed that the United States, Australia, Greece and Germany were the only countries that experienced a decrease in cybercrime. However, all countries except Germany rank first in the list (out of the top five). Meanwhile, the Netherlands (7th place) and the United Kingdom (1st place) experienced sharp increases in cybercrime intensity of 50% and 40%, respectively.

Mexico is at the bottom of the list. There, only two victims of cybercrime have been recorded for every million Internet users less than Germany. However, the intensity of cybercrime increased by 14% year-on-year.

What are the most common cybercrime activities?

According to the study, phishing is the most popular attack method for the second year in a row. In 2020, a total of 241,343 phishing victims were counted. However, phishing victims lost the least amount of money on average ($136 per victim), while investment scam victims lost the most ($70,811) per victim on average.

Likewise, investment fraud generally has the most serious financial consequences for victims. In total, people lost about $15 million as a result of 2021. The least harmful cybercrime activity over the past year was Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. Only about 1,000 people reported losing an average of $197 for this type of online crime.

“Now with geopolitical tensions rising, we may be more vulnerable to cyber warfare and zero-day vulnerabilities exploited by spyware like Pegasus,” said Alexander Valentige, Surfshark’s chief security officer.

In total, at least 6,502,323 people fell victim to cybercrime attacks in 2021. Financial losses totaled $26116 million.

www.surfshark.com/en/