Less cyberbullying, more scams: 2022 of cybercrimes in Italy
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“In the first six months of 2022, the commitment of the Postal and Communications Police was directed towards the prevention and contrast of a vast and heterogeneous set of cyber attacks, aimed at affecting the personal assets of Italian citizens and the integrity of economic-productive fabric of the country, the regularity of essential public services such as the world of professions, the safety and personal freedom of adults and children, with particular reference to the protection of children and the most vulnerable people”. This is the photograph taken by the Clusit report, a Microsoft partner in research, analysis and events on ICT security in Italy. In the period examined, these dynamics were joined by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, which uncovered a Pandora’s box of offensive cyber capabilities, used by war actors, their allies and in general by all the main global players, both in support of cyber-intelligence and cyber-warfare activities, in a context of “hot” war on the borders of Europe and growing international tensions. “In addition to the enormous damage caused by cybercrime – explains the dossier -, from now on critical infrastructures and many other digital systems, less protected at a regulatory level but still essential for the community, will be designated targets, constantly in the crosshairs of many governmental and non-governmental actors.
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“The first six months of this year have been very critical for public administrations and companies. The war and international tensions in general have led to the energy crisis and to a situation of fear and uncertainty the likes of which have not been seen for decades – commented on the sidelines by Gabriele Faggioli, president of Clusit – As expected, information warfare attacks have increased considerably and even if in Italy we have not had particularly serious cases, the attention is at the highest levels. The situation is difficult and after the years of Covid and almost a year of war in Europe, the risk is exhaustion. We therefore need the strength to resist because like all dark periods in history, this too will end”. In this sense, the report hopes that the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan), which overall identifies around 45 billion euros for the “digital transition”, can represent an opportunity for Italy to catch up and fill its gaps (also) in the cyber field.
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Online child pornography
In the first half of 2022, the commitment of the authorities was aimed at adapting preventive and repressive interventions, moving on the one hand towards patrolling the web in search of illegal content, and on the other through refining undercover investigative techniques who have focused on those reserved and technically complex circuits into which “sex offenders” and digital pedophiles have poured. The acceleration imposed by the pandemic was followed by an initial stabilization phase, while the slow return to normality and the exit from the state of emergency contributed to reducing social isolation, with a decrease in the global circulation of child pornography on circuits and a consequent decrease in cases handled (-5%), which however did not affect the law enforcement activity.
Online grooming
In the period considered, 210 cases of online grooming were treated. Also this year the 10-13 age group is the one most involved with the majority of cases, 115 compared to the total. Worthy of attention is the data regarding episodes involving children under 10: almost absent cases before the pandemic, they are currently present as proof of the fact that the restrictions due to the health emergency have led an ever-increasing number of young Internet users to web. It should also be noted that video games also appear among the places of contact between minors and pedophile adults.
Cyberbullying
In the first half of the current year, a decrease in cases of cyberbullying was recorded (160), which coincides with the normalization of the habits of the boys.
Sextortion
It’s a phenomenon that usually affects adults in a violent and sneaky way, it leverages small fragility and personal needs, threatening people’s tranquility. Recently, sextortion concerns minor victims, with enhanced harmful effects: the shame that young people feel prevents them from asking for help from parents and peers, in front of whom they feel guilty of having succumbed to temptation and having trusted perfect and attractive strangers. During the semester, 41 cases were treated, mostly in the 14-17 age group, but the data concerning minors aged between 10-13 is also cause for concern.
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Fraud and crimes against the person
Action to combat the online scams, also facilitated by an increasingly widespread use of the Internet for purchases or sales of goods of all kinds. Based on the report on online scams for the first half of 2022, 7331 cases were identified for a total value of 49,798,189 euros and 1856 people investigated, with frauds related to the online trading for almost 40 million euros. This is followed by e-commerce and “romance scams”, the proliferation of which seems to be related to the use of social networks and dating sites. Recent investigations have shown that the authors, although originating from North African countries, mainly Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Benin and Burkina Faso, operate in a structured way on the Italian territory, from which they export large sums of money also through Money Transfer to the native countries.
With reference to crimes against the person (4550 cases were detected and 583 people were investigated), particular attention was paid to revenge porn, cyberstalking and all those forms of aggression expressly opposed also through the so-called “red code”. Recent legislation has made it easier to identify the perpetrators of the criminal conduct and therefore more effective protection of the victims, having introduced greater promptness in the judicial response. The report shows how the most common cases concern person replacement (with 1669 episodes detected and 61 people investigated), followed by defamation online (1054 cases detected and 282 investigated) and therefore sextortion (466 cases and 37 suspects) and to follow unlawful data processing (425 cases and 15 suspects), harassment(283 cases and 27 suspects), revenge porn (111 cases and 37 suspects), stalking (69 cases and 32 suspects) hate speech (52 cases and 17 reported), and 16 cases of suicide threats. For this reason, specific monitoring services have been programmed for the distribution channels of multimedia content, websites, sales platforms, profiles and pages on the most well-known social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram, Pinterest and Youtube), aimed at stemming the diffusion of the language of hate, in constant collaboration with the Observatory for Security against Discriminatory Acts.
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Protect critical infrastructure
In the current international context, the escalation of geopolitical tension in Ukraine has also had significant repercussions on cyber security and the protection of critical national infrastructures. In particular, massive international campaigns have emerged aimed at critical infrastructures, financial systems and companies operating in strategic sectors such as communication and defence. Groups of state-based hackers have decided to side with Russia, others with Ukraine, effectively taking part in the conflict in the cyber domain. A total of 5,430 raids were detected in the first half of 2022, 82% more than in the same period of 2021, 240 people investigated compared to the previous 98 with an increase in alerts of 6%.
They were then observed various hostile activitiespotentially attributable to the current international crisis.
Accounts
The presence on the net of the Russian hacker group Conti has become increasingly important, author of an IT attack on the Viasat company, which initially led to the unavailability in Ukraine of the satellite connectivity services offered through the KA-SAT connection network and, subsequently would have affected the entire high data rate satellite operating system.
Killnet
Starting from 19 May, Italy – like other countries with positions of support for Ukraine – has been affected by a vast amount of cyber attacks, carried out by groups of declared pro-Russian origin, directed against the critical infrastructures of numerous countries atlantists. In Italy in particular, the Killnet attacks have resulted, among other things, in the threat of damage to public administrations (including the systems of the Government, the Ministry of the Interior and Defense), the press, banks, ports, airports, logistics.
Eurovision 2022 and 72nd Sanremo Italian Song Festival
As on the occasion of important national events, the Postal and Communications Police guaranteed dedicated IT security services during the Sanremo Festival and the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. The technical staff identified and reported numerous vulnerabilities, allowing the IT representatives of Rai to intervene to avoid possible cyber attacks.
Financial Cybercrime
In the first half of 2022 the financial cybercrime is increasingly confirmed as one of the predominant and preeminent forms of cybercrime. There are many and constantly evolving techniques used by criminal organizations, which affect ordinary citizens and small and medium-sized enterprises. A total of 4734 cases were treated on the national territory, 35% less than in the first half of 2022, but those of international significance that involved Italy are 95% more.
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Subversion and terrorism
In the context of preventing and contrasting the spread of terrorist content online, the Postal and Communications Police report the continuous and dizzying increase in the use of online communication platforms, social networks and instant messaging applications, and the increased circulation of propaganda related to terrorism. Which is of an Islamist matrix (jihadist, ISIS, Al Qaeda, Al Shabaab and other local articulations), but also attributable to formations of the extreme right (neo-Nazism, neo-fascism, structured supporters, suprematism), and of the extreme left (movements of armed struggle, anarchists, insurrectionists, antagonists). There were 881 cases treated in the first six months of the year that is about to end, 31% more than in the same period of 2021, with 53% more spaces monitored and 28% more people investigated.
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