Kaspersky Lab says cybercriminals getting driven by politics

MOSCOW, Aug 31 (PRIME) -- Cybercriminals are now often motivated by politics and use very sophisticated methods in their attacks, antivirus software maker Kaspersky Lab said late on Wednesday in a report on cyberthreats for April–June.

“First, motivation of criminals is becoming more and more complicated, and the money factor is often supplemented with political reasons. It’s quite probable that we’re going to see a higher level of cybercrime in the countries that are going to have elections,” Kaspersky Lab said.

“Second, cyberattacks more often turn out not what they seem at first, which was the case with WannaCry and ExPetr.”

Cybercrime groups speaking Russian, English, Chinese, and Korean, and the groups acting in the Middle East were most active in April–June. Such a range proves globalization of cybercrime, which moves cyberwars to a new level.

Yury Namestnikov, head of Kaspersky Lab’s Russian research center, said that the trends allow the company to forecast events in July–September.

“We expect a higher number of attacks on power supply-related enterprises. Political motives could also play a role here,” he said.

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