Globally, cybercrime is estimated to cost hundreds of millions, if not trillions, of dollars.
A new index ranking cybercrime threats by country places Russia at the top of the list, highlighting a concentrated source of cybercriminals.Published today in the World Cybercrime Index (WCI) PLOSsurveyed experts to identify hotspots of cybercriminal activity.
Russia is followed by Ukraine and China, with the United States ranking fourth. The UK ranks eighth, behind countries such as Nigeria and Romania. Recent cybercrime activity also places India in the 10th position.
The WCI scores reveal a worrying trend: a small group of countries account for a large portion of the global cybercrime threat. Russia achieved the highest WCI score of 58.39, while Ukraine and China had significantly lower scores of 36.44 and 27.86 respectively.
Co-author Dr Miranda Bruce from the University of Oxford and the University of New South Wales in Canberra said the research would allow the public and private sectors to focus resources on key cybercrime hubs and spend less time on cybercrime countermeasures and funding. The problem is not that serious.
Dr Bruce said in a statement: “The research underpinning the Index will help lift the veil of anonymity on cybercriminals and we hope it will help combat the growing threat of profit-driven cybercrime.”
“We now have a deeper understanding of the geographic distribution of cybercrime and how different countries specialize in different types of cybercrime.”
“By continuing to collect this data, we will be able to monitor the emergence of any new hotspots and potentially provide early intervention in high-risk countries before serious cybercrime problems arise.”
Top 20 countries by cybercrime threat level
- Russia (World Cybercrime Index score: 58.39)
- Ukraine (World Cybercrime Index score: 36.44)
- China (World Cybercrime Index score: 27.86)
- United States (World Cybercrime Index score: 25.01)
- Nigeria (World Cybercrime Index score: 21.28)
- Romania (World Cybercrime Index score: 14.83)
- North Korea (World Cybercrime Index score: 10.61)
- United Kingdom (World Cybercrime Index score: 9.01)
- Brazil (World Cybercrime Index score: 8.93)
- India (World Cybercrime Index score: 6.13)
- Iran (World Cybercrime Index score: 4.78)
- Belarus (World Cybercrime Index score: 3.87)
- Ghana (World Cybercrime Index score: 3.58)
- South Africa (World Cybercrime Index score: 2.58)
- Moldova (World Cybercrime Index score: 2.57)
- Israel (World Cybercrime Index score: 2.51)
- Poland (World Cybercrime Index score: 2.22)
- Germany (World Cybercrime Index score: 2.17)
- Netherlands (World Cybercrime Index score: 1.92)
- Latvia (World Cybercrime Index score: 1.68)
Experts in cybercrime intelligence gathering and investigations are involved in a global investigation. The survey involved 92 high-profile individuals from around the world and focused on five main cybercrime categories. These experts identified the countries they believe are the main sources of each type of cybercrime. In addition, they ranked each country based on the impact, skills and expertise of cybercriminal activity.
According to the University of Oxford, the five main categories of cybercrime assessed in the study are:
- Technical products/services (e.g. malware encoding, botnet access, access to infected systems, tool production).
- Attacks and extortion (e.g. denial of service attacks, ransomware).
- Data/identity theft (e.g. hacking, phishing, account compromise, credit card, etc.).
- Fraud (e.g. advance fee fraud, business email compromise, online auction fraud).
- Cash out/money laundering (e.g. credit card fraud, money mules, illegal virtual currency platforms).
