1. Fake News

Fake news is the latest in the surge of new cyber attacks. Fake news is the proliferation of misinformation to sway public opinion, influence public choices and promote falsehoods for political purposes. This type of cyber crime is the fastest on the rise, cutting across all forms of popular social media. The primary targets are governments and companies, where the internet has become the greatest vehicle to disseminate propaganda.

2. Cyber Espionage

Cyber espionage has also grown over the past year, where government and company information are stolen to undermine institutions. Information is stolen from databases, email accounts, and digital storage devices. The stolen information can be used for gaining access to accounts, stealing money or other assets, and medical records. Alternatively, such information can and is used to blackmail companies or individuals.

3. Cyber Ransom

Cyber ransom is the use of sensitive and private information for extorting money or concessions. It is a recent form of cyber crime that holds individuals, organizations, companies, and government agencies hostage in return for a ransom. Cyber attackers are no longer just interested in taking over systems, they are now targeting to take over the actions of others. This type of attack has seen a significant increase over the past two years and a particularly sharp increase in the area of political elections.

4. System Takeover

The largest and most damaging form of cyber attack is the system takeover. This covers an ever increasing number of systems connecting to computer networks. The Internet is by far the largest network which touches over millions of IP addresses. With the advent of Internet of Things (IoT), system takeovers pose a new threat to society. Smart homes, security systems, baby monitoring devices, and automobiles all increase the stakes of system takeovers. Emerging technologies such as driverless cars are susceptible to system takeovers. These attacks also include Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which effectively takeover one's system by denying others access to its normal functionality. This particular type of cyber attack is primarily on the rise due to the increase in our global network coupled with the proliferation of devices connected to the Web.

5. Piracy

Piracy is a form of cyber attack that undermines rights ownership. In doing so, pirates steal what is not theirs. Pirates not only enjoy the pirated goods for themselves, but also openly share or sell those goods through repeated copying of digital assets for others to enjoy. The particular type of goods most effected are pure information assets: music, motion pictures, print media and software. These assets are consumed by simply copying the information that represents them. Therefore, by simply copying such information sufficiently enough, the asset can be used by others. Trends around piracy are mixed, but recent use of streaming services is deflating interest around piracy. The dynamics describing this trend reflects the role certain technologies play on shaping consumer behavior.

6. Fraud