Public authorities are a major target for cybercriminals. One figure says it all: in the past six years the number of cyberattacks against public authorities increased by 455%. While there were 45,894 cyberattacks during the first nine months of 2016, this number leaped to 217,571 during the same period in 2022.
This data comes from various state security forces, including the National Police, Civil Guard and regional and local police forces. These figures aren’t broken down by sector, but here at Aiuken we’ve noticed that hackers are increasingly targeting city, provincial and regional councils, as well as the central government itself. This affects everyone, as these institutions are there to serve society as a whole.
The councils of Seville, Requena (Valencia) and Durango (Vizcaya) are just three local authorities that have suffered major cyberattacks in recent months. Cybercriminals are not deterred by the size of public organisations. In fact, Spain’s Ministry of Finance was also recently hit by a major hacking incident, which was carried out via the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ).
And there is even more cause for concern that our public authorities could suffer systemic failure. According to the latest annual report from the EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), cyberattacks against governments and public authorities have risen by 24% since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It’s plain to see: cybercrime will continue to grow tomorrow, take off next week, soar next month and skyrocket in a year’s time. The real turning point will be when these crimes start to slow down.
Sadly this feels like a long way off for now, as the arrival of 5G, IP connectivity, the network society and every other technological advance is always noted more for its benefits than its risks. So while the most common crimes today (from theft to homicide) are actually declining, the same sources tell us that cybercrime is rising exponentially.
So what can we do? At Aiuken, we no longer believe that authorities are failing to invest properly in cybersecurity – the problem is that they are simply oblivious to how serious this issue is. And it is very serious indeed: each and every one of us is vulnerable to ransomware, malware, phishing and a whole range of other threats.
We all need cybersecurity, and that depends on more investment, greater awareness and a real commitment from everyone. The European Union should take advantage of European Next Generation funding in order to boost prevention. All individuals, businesses and public authorities are now the targets of criminal hacktivism, exploiting the fact that developments such as 5G still rely on outdated security systems from the 1990s.
