Awareness Campaign on Cyber Attacks & Scams – Tips for Citizens

During the Covid-19 pandemic both the amount of work from home and the amount of online shopping increased, and official data also shows a rise in attempted fraud and cyber-attacks detected. According to estimates by the American cyber security organization PurpleSec, cybercrime has increased by as much as 600% since the beginning of the pandemic. We have also recently detected several cases of online fishing or phishing attacks: online scams in which a fraudster wants to obtain sensitive data from online users through e-mails purporting to be from reputable companies. Cyber attackers often take advantage of the weakest link, i.e., an unconscious user who uses the internet and web applications either at home or at work.

At the OWASP Association we strive for greater awareness and, consequently, caution when using the internet. We want to educate both individuals and organizations about the safe use of the internet and software and about the current risks that they pose. Through the awareness campaign about cyber attacks and frauds we will respond to current cyber threats, such as phishing, social engineering, ransomware, and cryptojacking, and the risks they pose to users. In this way, we will contribute to reducing the number of online frauds.

The project will bring together experts in the field of cyber security, who will conduct joint research on current events that threaten internet users and on how cyber-scams take place. The emphasis will be on up-to-date monitoring of current cyber-scams and attacks and informing web users about what is happening. Based on the research conducted, we will prepare reports and present the findings to the public. We will especially focus on active internet users, young people, and small and medium-sized enterprises, which often have huge amounts of personal data from both customers and employees, but do not have sufficient capacity to put cyber security first.