Digital Crime in the Context of a Pandemic: Main Trends

Abstract

On January 30, 2020, a group of experts from the world health organization announced an outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, which caused the coronavirus disease COVID-19. On March 11, 2020, the ongoing outbreak of coronavirus infection was declared a pandemic, which led to a huge number of new vectors of digital crime attacks. Cybercriminals did not shy away from the situation and used the pandemic to commit various digital scams and cyber-attacks. Due to the fact that a large number of people were working from home and using online services during the pandemic, the capacity of cybercriminals to exploit emerging opportunities and vulnerabilities increased significantly. In most cases, citizens have outdated cybersecurity systems in their homes, or they do not have them at all. Cybercriminals are preying on the opportunity to take advantage of this situation and are focusing even more on cybercrime activities. The study contains data from global reports and press releases on digital threats during the pandemic. The work identified sustainable trends in digital crime in the period of the pandemic, among them: 1) mass cyber-attacks on recently (and often quickly) deployed remote access infrastructure or remote work infrastructure; 2) the growth of phishing attacks and malware distribution due to the growth of the digital audience; 3) adaptation of «classic» fraud schemes using social engineering methods; 4) attacks and hacking of digital communication platforms («Zoombombing»); 5) the growth of criminal phenomena in online games; 6) increased demand and distribution of pornographic materials through social networks, encrypted applications and the DarkNet. A number of preventive measures to reduce the impact of digital crime during the pandemic are proposed.