The police have received 259 reports this year from people and companies who are first hacked and then pressed for money.
There are a hundred more registrations than last year (159), but the number of blacks is believed to be large.
Statistics from the private security companies show that 3–5 percent of the companies that are blackmailed report it to the police.
- Companies do not report because they believe that it does not benefit their brand that they have been subjected to an infringement, says Crime Commissioner Jan Olsson.
If five percent of the attacks are reported to the police, it means that several thousand companies may have been exposed in the past year without it having become known.
Data intrusion in order to extort money from companies, also called ransomware attacks, means that companies 'customer data and other files are taken hostage, usually by infecting companies' systems with malicious code.
Then the extortionist threatens to publish or destroy the data if they do not receive money.
"Should be seen as a victim of crime"
During the year, a couple of cases received attention in Sweden, including Coop, which had its system hijacked in July.
The investment platform Aktieinvest also received attention when it was attacked in September.
The two companies reported the incident to the police and were open about what had happened.
Going out in public can mean a lot of negative publicity, something that makes companies hesitate, says Marcus Murray at the security company Truesec.
He thinks that companies should be seen more as victims of crime in order to reduce the stigma of being hacked.
- The more you point out the injuries of the victims, the greater the pressure for future victims to pay for the information not to come out.
Paying is no guarantee
According to Jan Olsson, crime commissioner at the National IT Crime Center, around 80 percent of the companies pay all or part of the ransom, also according to information from the IT security companies.
- If no one had paid, this problem would not have existed, says Olsson.
Paying the ransom is still no guarantee that the problem will be solved.
- If you pay, it has turned out that you end up on a list of companies that pay and are often exposed again.
In addition, you often do not get the files back.
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Internet expert Måns Jonasson gives his three tips for you to increase your privacy online.
Photo: SVT / Fredrik Sandberg / TT