A volunteer group of analysts and experts from the Computer Crime Research Center (CCRC) predicts that the cost of cybercrime will reach $12 trillion by 2025, surpassing the previous estimate of $10.5 trillion by Cybersecurity Ventures. The CCRC, citing research from CheckPoint and Orange Cyderdefense, notes the consistent growth in cyberattacks and ransomware over the past year. The group expresses particular concern about the rise of attacks facilitated by artificial intelligence (AI), linking it to an increase in malicious domains being registered. The CCRC anticipates a surge in AI adoption by threat actors for developing new malware and ransomware variants, posing challenges to traditional cybersecurity measures.
The threat landscape surrounding AI is identified as a significant factor, with attackers utilizing sophisticated linguistic techniques to craft targeted attacks at speed and scale. The CCRC emphasizes that the adoption of AI by cybercriminals will extend to phishing and impersonation attacks through deepfake technologies, especially as 2024 brings numerous elections worldwide. The group warns that businesses embracing AI could face erosion of benefits due to its deployment in novel cyberattacks, suggesting that static defense mechanisms may prove ineffective against dynamic AI-driven threats. While acknowledging increased awareness of cyber threats among senior executives, the CCRC urges greater involvement at the executive board level to enhance cybersecurity risk governance.
Established in 2001 as a voluntary non-profit scientific research body focusing on cybercrime, the CCRC boasts contributions from cybersecurity experts globally, with a forensic approach to studying cyber threats. Despite primarily involving experts from Ukraine, the CCRC claims no specific nation-state affiliation, underlining the need for comprehensive executive involvement and cybersecurity governance to address the multifaceted and evolving landscape of cyber threats in 2023.
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