Europe continues to be a cybercrime hub

[steven36]

ThreatMetrix announced new data revealing a 30 percent year-on-year increase in the volume of cyberattacks hitting Europe in the first quarter of 2018.

 

 

 

As attacks patterns morph across the region, European digital businesses were hit with 80 million fraud attempts, as they experienced more pronounced spikes of peak attack periods throughout Q1 2018 compared to previous years. There has been an evolution from short, isolated peaks of fraud attacks to more sustained, high-volume attacks across a number of days or even weeks. As a result, the onus is upon European digital businesses to invest in innovative, real-time security capabilities that are robust enough to withstand these intense periods of attack.

 

Identity spoofing is seeing a significant uptick across the region, resulting from the vast swathes of stolen personal data now available on the dark web. In Germany, for example, identity spoofing attacks have more than doubled compared to Q1 2017. The high volume of attacks originating from Germany across the board led to the country featuring in the list of the top five perpetrators of attacks globally, alongside the UK.

 

The downstream effect of identity abuse in the wake of major data breaches is particularly felt within the European eCommerce market, the industry that is being hit the hardest with regards to sheer volume of attacks. 60 million eCommerce transactions were rejected as fraudulent in Q1, which is a 47% increase over the previous year. There is a particular focus on identity testing activities targeting this sector, with fraudsters looking to capitalise upon the low-friction approach taken by many merchants aimed at increasing online revenues and encouraging customer loyalty in a fiercely competitive market.

 

“As European digital businesses face intense onslaughts of identity abuse and fraud attacks, they need to prioritise investments in new technologies that give insight into true identity of their users in a way that is invisible to the consumer. This enables them to provide the low-friction experience they need to grow their business, without compromising on security,” commented Alisdair Faulkner, Chief Products Officer at ThreatMetrix.

 

 

Attack percentages are based on transactions identified as high-risk and classified as attacks, by use case.

 

Europe turns to mobile as the secure digital channel

Europe is truly at the forefront of the mobile-first revolution, with 58 percent of all transactions coming from mobile devices. This is higher than the global average of 51 percent and this trend is particularly pronounced in the UK which sees 67% of transactions coming from mobile. Key mobile growth regions include France and Central and Eastern Europe, where mobile transactions grew 96 percent and 63 percent respectively.

 

The banking sector is helping to drive this uptick in mobile transactions, for example in the UK 73% of all banking transactions were from mobile. Not only does mobile banking suit the on-the-go modern consumer, and encourage loyalty due to increased user engagement, it is also proving to be the more secure channel.

 

Across all industries, mobile transactions are attacked half as much of cyberattacks proportionally, compared with desktop transactions. Although the volume of attacks on mobile transactions is rising, this will remain the more secure way to transact online for the foreseeable future.

 

“When employing the correct technology, the mobile channel offers a wealth of opportunities to effectively identify consumers in a way that is persistent and reliable, but totally invisible to the user,” concluded Faulkner. “Mobile users have zero tolerance for being slowed down by clunky security steps, but the future of this channel relies on the continued ability of digital businesses to offer consumers peace of mind that their identity and financial information is secure.”

 

Source

 

[DKT27]

I wonder if they are just the common targets rather than people doing it.

 

But however, I do not know if Europe is that far ahead in leading in so called mobile-first revolution as claimed. Many countries Asia doing quite well in this. Especially when you consider that there are far more mobiles users when compared to computer users in it.

[steven36]

9 hours ago, DKT27 said:

I wonder if they are just the common targets rather than people doing it.

 

But however, I do not know if Europe is that far ahead in leading in so called mobile-first revolution as claimed. Many countries Asia doing quite well in this. Especially when you consider that there are far more mobiles users when compared to computer users in it.

You're right according to statista Asia  do have the most mobile users  but  the country  with the most online  is Kenya  they have the most mobile internet users online .PCs  are even more rare there then in India or China .  There is a difference in owning a mobile  phone than using it online all the time.

Quote

 

Mobile internet usage worldwide - Statistics & Facts

Mobile internet usage has worked its way into the daily life of smartphone and tablet users, enabling consumers to access and share information on the go. There portends a promising future for mobile internet usage, as global mobile data traffic is projected to increase nearly sevenfold between 2016 and 2021. According to January 2018 data, the global mobile population amounted to 3.7 billion unique users. As of February 2017, mobile devices accounted for 49.7 percent of web page views worldwide, with mobile-first markets such as Asia and Africa leading the pack. Kenya registered the highest rate of internet traffic coming from mobile devices; followed by Nigeria, India, Singapore, Ghana, and Indonesia. The Americas and Europe have the highest mobile broadband subscription penetration rate, around 78.2 percent and 76.6 percent respectively. In 2016, the global average stood at nearly 50 percent.

Mobile apps are increasingly popular in everyday activities. The two most popular app stores, Google Play and Apple’s App Store, had a total number of 2.8 and 2.2 million available apps respectively, as of March 2017. With the large volume of apps available to consumers, marketers began to focus more on mobile app retention than on acquisition alone. As of September 2017, the apps for Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube and Google were the four most popular Android apps worldwide, while Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Skype for iPhone were the apps with the highest market reach among mobile iOS users globally.

Social networking is one of the most popular activities of mobile internet users. Facebook Messenger is the second most popular mobile messaging apps behind Whatsapp, the world’s leading messaging app with more than 1.3 billion monthly active users as of July 2017. Other popular mobile messaging apps include QQ Mobile, WeChat and Skype. Mobile social media consists of social networking and mobile messaging apps.

Besides social networking, mobile internet users also more commonly use their device to watch online videos, accounting for 58 percent of digital video plays during the third quarter of 2017. Tencent Video ranks among the worldwide highest-grossing entertainment app titles in the Apple App Store, followed by iQiYi Video and Netflix. Music streaming apps have also increased in popularity, with Spotify and SoundCloud being among the most downloaded music and audio apps worldwide.

Mobile commerce has been on a continued rise with the availability of a range of online shopping preferences for consumers that include online purchases of grocery, toys, books, music, movies and video games, clothing and footwear, household appliances, consumer electronics, and so on. The average value of global online shopping orders placed using a smartphone stood at 104.63 U.S. dollars during the third quarter of 2017. In a 2016 survey, it was found that about half of mobile shoppers turn to smartphone or tablets for purchasing products for convenience; 46 percent opted for the mobile platform to save time.

 

https://www.statista.com/topics/779/mobile-internet/

But what they use them for  social networking and online banking, I bet the attack vector is much lower on Desktop GNU Linux than  on mobile  Android Linux and Apple IOS for doing these things. They are comparing Mobile to Windows . But it dont say how much  these countries are using these phones for online banking or what they buy  vs  Europe it says they are mostly used for social networks ? And the most used  apps on Mobile are freeware, China is also known too pirate most everything that's not free. 

 

Android piracy is  everywhere.

 

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PCs running other operating systems
PCs running operating system such as Mac OS X and Linux are less likely to be attacked than their Windows cousins. Both operating systems have their own critical vulnerabilities. Nevertheless we have not seen as much focus on these operating systems by the cybercriminals. Exploitation toolkits that are available in the black market are typically only targeted at the Windows operating system. A PC running another operating system than Windows is a decent choice for your banking needs.

 

And are they counting Android Linux TV boxes as phones for streaming videos because of the OS ? While i know some use phones to stream videos most I talked too use desktop PC or a TVBox  because of having a better picture . All these streaming apps for Android can be installed on a TV box as well as a phone and I have a few for Windows and Linux other than Kodi.  Also Desktop have very good Media players for people who download instead  .

 

Top 5 Devices To Run KODI From 2018

http://www.wirelesshack.org/top-5-devices-to-run-kodi-from-2015.html

Top APKs

https://kodiapps.com/apk-chart

 

Wether they want to admit it or not streaming piracy is just as common as Netfilx and other paid services people who never would of  pirated before are doing it .

 

Were this website get there info from in the OP is eMarketer Report 2017-2021

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Executive Summary

Across Europe, 582.5 million individuals will use the internet at least once per month in 2017, eMarketer estimates, up 2.7% over the previous year. While internet penetration is nearing saturation in several markets, smartphones are behind digital’s pervasiveness, as roughly three-quarters of internet users will use the device by the end of this year.

• More than three-quarters (76.7%) of the population in Western Europe will be internet users in 2017, driven by high web adoption in the Nordics and the UK. Internet penetration in Central and Eastern Europe will skew lower—59.5%—due to limited access in Russia and Turkey.
• Smartphone uptake has driven internet usage in Western Europe. Some 62.1% of the population will own and use a smartphone in 2017, compared with 43.6% of the population in Central and Eastern Europe. Penetration in the latter region will not cross the halfway mark until 2020.
• Because of widespread smartphone adoption and 4G access, several countries across Western Europe are planning to launch 5G coverage in 2018. Nordic countries are leading the charge, while Italy—where smartphone adoption is lowest in the region—aims to have five cities supporting 5G use.
• Some 44.7% of residents in Western Europe will use a tablet by the end of 2017, more than double the 20.6% rate in Central and Eastern Europe. Western Europe’s higher uptake is a result of broad internet access and more expendable income among consumers.

 

"The number of smartphone users in Europe will total 451.9 million in 2017, a 9.5% increase from last year. By 2021, this user base will top 522 million.

 

https://www.emarketer.com/Report/Internet-Mobile-Users-Europe-eMarketers-Country-by-Country-Forecast-20172021/2002177

[steven36]

1 hour ago, steven36 said:

But it dont say how much  these countries are using these phones for online banking or what they buy  vs  Europe it says they are mostly used for social networks ?

This talks about this  The world's 2 billion unbanked, in 6 charts.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-worlds-unbanked-population-in-6-charts-2017-8?international=true&r=US&IR=T

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According to the World Bank's data, more than 20% of unbanked adults receive wages or government transfers in cash, and many people in developing countries pay bills and school fees in cash.

 In order for online banking to become a major security  problem in developing countries,  they need bank accounts to begin with,  witch many don't have .