This is the flip side of the intense use of digital tools in the economic life of companies and in the personal lives of all French people since the start of the health crisis.
Computer attacks have intensified in recent months.
Among them, ransomware.
With these malicious programs, hackers can remotely take control of a computer or information system and prevent them from viewing or using the data.
They then require the user or the affected entity to pay a ransom, often in cryptocurrency.
“
Since the start of 2020, more than 1,100 victims, 26% of whom are individuals, have requested assistance on our platform to deal with a ransomware attack.
This type of digital blackmail was the first cause of seeking assistance for communities and the second for businesses and associations
”explains Jérôme Notin, CEO of Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr.
For its part, Anssi has dealt with three times more ransomware attacks from businesses and local authorities in July than in January 2020, for a total of 104 since the start of the year.
Among the most targeted entities, companies in the industrial sector, health and local authorities.
“
30% of territorial councils and cities have been affected by ransomware, which now represents the main cause of incidents identified for local authorities
” declares Cyril Bras, responsible for the Territorial Communities part of the MIPS 2020 study and responsible for the security of information systems at Grenoble-Alpes Métropole ”.
Blackmail on webcam
The authorities are also alerting individuals to another form of intensifying blackmail: that of the webcam.
The principle ?
The user receives an email threatening to send to their personal and / or professional contacts compromising videos of him consulting pornographic sites, obtained via the webcam of individuals.
Cybercriminals have no proof, they send these emails en masse in the hope that in the lot, one or more people feel concerned and pay.
"It is more of a psychological attack than a computer attack" specifies Mathieu Feuillet, deputy deputy director of operations at Anssi.
“
During the confinement, we observed a strong upsurge in blackmail using the webcam allegedly hacked during a consultation of a pornographic site.
Proof of the scale of this phenomenon, our page dedicated to this threat has been the subject of more than 130,000 consultations.
Webcam blackmail is the fourth cause for seeking assistance on our platform,
”notes Jérôme Notin, CEO of Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr.
What to do about this?
Among the essential "barrier gestures", do not click on links or download attachments from strangers, choose strong passwords, do all the updates and make regular data backups.
"
Any actor in society can be a victim
," insists Mathieu Feuillet, deputy deputy director of operations at Anssi.
When we pay a ransom to pirates, we give them the means to develop.
The civic gesture is not to pay
”
For more information, visit www.cybermois.fr
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