G7 raises concerns about rising cyberattacks amid pandemic

Ransomware attacks demanding payments, often to facilitate money laundering, ‘have been growing in scale, sophistication, and frequency’ over the past two years, causing ‘significant economic damage and (threatening) customer protection and data privacy’, the ministers said. — AFP

WASHINGTON: Finance ministers from the G7 industrialised countries expressed “concern” on Oct 13 over the rise in “malicious cyberattacks” in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, including some involving cryptocurrencies.

These ransomware attacks demanding payments often to facilitate money laundering “have been growing in scale, sophistication, and frequency” over the past two years, causing “significant economic damage and (threatening) customer protection and data privacy”, the ministers said.