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A recent report from the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center revealed a 28 percent increase in online attacks targeting small businesses in 2023. However, this year saw a shift as hackers returned to targeting large organizations with substantial digital assets and financial resources.
In 2024, cybercriminals from the top 10 countries conducted 20 major hacks for the first time. This data comes from research conducted by Oxford University, which established a World Cybercrime Index (WCI) ranking the cybercrime threat level of countries. The top 10 countries include Russia, Ukraine, China, the United States, Nigeria, Romania, North Korea, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and India.
May witnessed a series of significant hacks involving digital assets. RansomHub, a Russian-speaking hacker group, executed a historic hack on Christie’s auction house, known for its NFT sales. This group also targeted Frontier Communications, a major internet services provider in the US. Another notable hack in May was attributed to ShinyHunters, a notorious cyber-criminal group responsible for breaching Ticketmaster/Live Nation and Banco Santander.
These cyberattacks pose a threat to digital asset owners and could potentially expose sensitive personal information to malicious actors. The IRS has noted an increase in tax evasion related to cryptocurrency transactions and has warned taxpayers to report all income earned from digital assets on their tax returns. In response to these threats, the IRS plans to intensify audit efforts on high-income individuals, large corporations, and digital asset accounts in 2024.