Bank of Russia review: key trends in cyber security
In 2021 Q1, over 6 thousand fraudulent telephone numbers and more than one thousand websites were blocked at the Bank of Russia’s request: these numbers and websites were used to misappropriate individuals’ money. The regulator presents these data in the Review of Reporting on Information Security Incidents Related to Funds Transfers for Q1.
The regulator expects that the laws providing for out-of-court blocking of fraudulent websites, calls and messages, enacted this June, will help in countering fraudulent activities. The Bank of Russia was one of developers of this legislation.
There were 237 thousand unauthorised transactions in Q1 to a total of 2.87 billion rubles, 40% and 57% more respectively than in the previous year. Remote banking systems have emerged as the most common channel of misappropriation this year: 1.1 billion rubles were stolen between January and March. This is almost double over the same period the previous year. Behind this growth is the extensive use of remote banking services together with the associated increase in fraudsters’ interest in this theft channel. The amount of money stolen via ATMs was up almost three times to a total of 305 million rubles. Unauthorised online purchase transactions declined 5% to a total of 879 million rubles.
The Bank of Russia notes a continued downward trend in the share of social engineering as a tool for fraudulent transactions, from 64% in 2020 Q1 to 56.2% in 2021 Q1.