In 2023, cyber criminals found new ways to exploit victims and commit cyber crimes. The traditional use of ransomware to extort money was replaced by mass targeting of victims and data theft and extortion. Alongside this trend, other cyber criminals continued to engage in smaller scale fraud, targeting individuals to con them out of their money. Here are the top 10 cyber crime stories of 2023:
1. Royal Mail: The LockBit ransomware crew targeted Royal Mail, causing significant disruption to the international shipping service. The ransom demanded was £70m, which Royal Mail refused to pay.
2. City of London: LockBit attacked Ion Group in the City of London, leading to multiple financial services organizations being locked out of critical applications.
3. Law Enforcement Operations: Various law enforcement operations aimed at disrupting ransomware gangs and bringing their members to justice, including an FBI-led operation that hacked and seized the Hive cartel’s server infrastructure.
4. Rubrik: The Clop/Cl0p ransomware crew exploited a flaw in Rubrik’s systems, compromising their data and attacking over 130 victims.
5. King Charles III Scam: Scammers took advantage of the coronation of King Charles III, creating scam websites to harvest credit card details from unsuspecting individuals.
6. AI Romance Scams: Cyber criminals used generative AI chatbots to deceive victims in romance scams, but one victim became suspicious after an AI message revealed its lack of human emotions.
7. MOVEit Attacks: Progress Software’s MOVEit MFT product was exploited by the Clop ransomware crew, affecting organizations such as the BBC, Boots, British Airways, and Ofcom.
8. Las Vegas Casino Attacks: The ALPHV/BlackCat gang targeted Las Vegas casino operators MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment using social engineering and gaining control of privileged accounts.
9. Citrix Bleed: LockBit exploited zero-day vulnerabilities in Citrix NetScaler Application Delivery Controller and NetScaler Gateway, targeting victims like aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
10. British Library: The British Library fell victim to the Rhysida ransomware gang, compromising customer databases and stealing over 600GB of data. The gang also attacked a private London hospital, claiming to have stolen medical data on the royal family.
These stories highlight the evolving tactics of cyber criminals and the need for increased cybersecurity measures to protect organizations and individuals from cyber attacks.
