Major Oxford ranking

These are the strongholds of cybercrime

Hacker groups and malicious code programmers are not distributed equally around the world: There are hotspot countries, researchers at Oxford University have discovered.(Bild: KI-generiert – Thanakrit – stock.adobe.com)

Ransomware that encrypts data and displays blackmail letters, state (economic) espionage, scam fraud and money laundering: cybercrime is a lucrative business for those behind it and a means for states to exercise global power or circumvent sanctions. In the first World Cybercrime Index, IT security experts have now identified the global hotspots - and regional "specialties".

Cyber criminals in different regions have different specializations and do not have the same technical sophistication everywhere: There are strongholds of online fraud with little know-how, but also dangerous state hacker collectives with extensive IT security expertise. In the first World Cybercrime Index, researchers from Oxford University, together with colleagues from Australia and France, are now surveying the world of cybercrime. Their findings provide a fascinating insight into the digital underground.