Digital every day: The figure shows how big a social problem digital crime is, Telenor CEO Birgit Ingebretsen says in a press release.
– The volume of incidents Telenor has been dealing with over the quarter clearly shows that Norwegians are daily targets for criminals looking to steal information and money. We all need to take this seriously, she says.
In a survey conducted for Telenor, about half responded that they are more concerned about being exposed to digital crime today than they were last year.
In addition, seven out of ten expressed concern that the spread of artificial intelligence would lead to more crimes.
This fear is justified, Ingebretsen explains.
– There is no doubt that those behind it are already using this type of technology to become more efficient and effective in their attacks. It is becoming increasingly difficult to detect fraud attempts and other crimes without the need for specialized technology and subject matter expertise.
510 million attempts
Telenor's security filters stopped 482 million of the 510 million attempted crimes in the second quarter.
Security filters work by blocking known scam sites, phishing attempts, and malware downloads. Ingebretsen says AI is widely used to create fake websites that are used for scams and phishing attempts.
– Criminals, for example, use artificial intelligence to gather information about the companies they are impersonating. In this way, criminals can exploit well-known brands in a way that will be very difficult to distinguish from professionally prepared campaigns and real companies.
She also says that you can find online services where you can order phishing campaigns. AI is also used to collect personal information from social media, among other things, to design fraud campaigns against individuals.
Banking Trojans First Detected in Norway
Telenor also blocked 16.9 million attempted SMS crimes and 10.9 million unwanted calls in the quarter.
Several thousand blocked SMS messages have been linked to the spread of Vulture, a well-known banking Trojan. By downloading the product, criminals gain control over the victim’s mobile phone and can steal information and money.
– SMS traffic associated with the spread of Vulture was quickly blocked in Telenor systems. In addition, our security filters prevented the ability to download the Trojan.
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