Cert.lv Blocked Nearly 5,000 Fraud Campaigns Before They Reached Latvians in Nine Months
Latvia's cyber incident response body Cert.lv has blocked almost 5,000 fraudulent campaigns this year before they reached residents. The number of incidents is rising, and attackers increasingly use artificial intelligence.
Cert.lv, Latvia's cyber incident response institution, blocked almost 5,000 fraudulent campaigns in the first nine months of this year, preventing them from reaching residents. Dana Ludviga, Cert.lv's information systems security analyst and head of international cooperation, said this in an interview with the news agency LETA. She described the cybersecurity situation as very tense for four years running, with attack intensity not easing in either the public or the private sector.
Incident numbers keep climbing
Last year set a record: Cert.lv manually handled almost 3,000 cyber incidents, the highest figure to date. In the first nine months of this year it has processed 15% more incidents than in the same period last year. Ludviga noted that November and December are still ahead, a period that is always especially favourable for fraudsters. Vigilance is needed not only from large service providers but also from small and medium-sized businesses, including farmers, who may assume they do not really work with information technology.
Proactive defence
The institution does not only respond to incidents that have already happened. It searches for attack campaigns before they reach the public and adds information about them to its DNS firewall. Ludviga explained that attackers usually gain the most in the first hours of a campaign, so blocking it in advance takes that opportunity away.
Main threats
By volume, fraud is the most widespread threat. Data from the finance industry association show that fraudsters took a million euros more in nine months than in the same period last year. At the national level, the greatest impact comes from state-sponsored advanced persistent threats (APT), which are targeted, long-term attacks. The third threat is data leaks: if rarely changed data such as a personal ID number or address leaks, it can be exploited a year, two or even three years later.
Artificial intelligence
Attackers use artificial intelligence to scan networks faster and find vulnerabilities, for example in resources that were recently changed. Ludviga also cited the case of the Road Traffic Safety Directorate (CSDD) as an example of problems arising with poorly protected or outdated resources. Companies often adopt AI solutions without properly assessing their security or training staff. Cert.lv itself uses AI tools for threat analysis.
