According to the Financial Supervisionduring 2023 in Colombia 28,000 million cyber attacks on the banking system and the success rate of criminals was a minimal figure, close to zero percent.
The entity presented the Information Security and Cybersecurity Indicators reportin which it details that the budget of banking establishments to confront this scourge was $440,000 million, a figure 3.5% higher than that allocated for that purpose in 2022.
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Regarding the number of attacks, the Superfinanciera (28,000 million) 76 million daily or 3.2 million per hour, The cases of success in carrying out attacks reached 2, this is a figure that represents a success rate of 0.0000000007%.
Cybersecurity Private File
The entity said that the improvement in measuring the Information Security and Cybersecurity Management System was 2.74%.
A source from the entity said that there is a distinction between an attack and a cyber incident, since the first is an attempt by a criminal to commit fraud or steal from a client’s account, be it a natural person, a company or the entities themselves, while a cyber incident breaches a barrier and an entity.
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Another aspect that the Superfinanciera mentions about the high number of attacks is that this occurs, since cybercriminals have increasingly sophisticated tools, even up to artificial intelligence (AI)so they are more sophisticated and that is why the entire system and the Superfinanciera need cutting-edge technology to try to prevent cybercriminals from going one step ahead as they have done.
The Superfinanciera requires high cybersecurity maturity throughout the banking system and all financial entities and the entity’s own schemes have also been increasing to have mature systems.
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One of the main methodologies with which cyber attacks occur is phishingwhich is trying to fish with fraudulent emails, posing as a Government entity and with this attack attempt a malware (malicious software) that usually comes accompanied with a text message and a link for people to access through it and fall.
The source says that cybercriminals continue to monitor and review portals and if they find a vulnerability they exploit it.
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Another attempted attack is ransomware which is to kidnap the information or part of it from an entity or person to request payment to unlock it. This can start with a fraudulent email that is downloaded to the computer and then encrypts the information and later a message arrives asking for money.
Cybersecurity iStock
One that is widely used is targeted research, searching social networks, since many people put where they work, their position, and when they go on a trip they publish photos and with social engineering they begin to send emails and even fraudulent messages on WhatsApp and that’s where identity theft and theft begins.
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According to the Superfinanciera, through the Circular 29 of 2019 Entities were asked for strong authentication mechanisms and for non-present environments that use this type of mechanism, it must be accompanied by something biometric or a token or some message to the cell phone.
The report of FortiGuard Labs by Fortinetsays that 200 billion cyberattack attempts occurred in Latin America in 2023 and warned that Prometei, a malware with the ability to control remotely, has experienced a notable increase in activity in Latin America.
HOLMAN RODRÍGUEZ MARTÍNEZ
Portfolio Journalist
