Admin I Tuesday, July 11, 2023
BERLIN – Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting public administrations, universities and doctors’ practices in Germany, the president of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, has warned.
“The threat of cybercrime has been on the rise for years and causes sometimes massive economic and social damage,” Münch told the newspapers of the German Funke Media Group in an interview published on Tuesday.
More often than in the past, cybercriminals are targeting public administrations, universities and doctors’ offices, he said.
“These attacks can also have massive effects, for example when administrations are unable to work for weeks,” he said.
In addition, in many cases not only systems are encrypted, but sensitive data is also stolen. “If the technical hurdles are then comparatively low, this is quickly attractive to criminals and subsequently lucrative,” Münch said.
Prosecution is a lengthy process and is also made more difficult by the fact that the perpetrators are usually based abroad.
Law enforcement agencies have recently been successful taking action against illegal online marketplaces such as Hydra Market or the money laundering service ChipMixer.
“In total, we have seized over €100 million ($110 million) in these two cases and thus taken away the criminal scene’s money, customers and tools,” Münch said
