Cyber scams to increase in 2023, says Norton Labs

With the volatile economic situation expected to continue into 2023, cyber scammers will be working harder to take advantage of people when they are more vulnerable, cybersecurity firm Norton Labs said.

Many of these cyber scammers will trick their victims into giving up their personal information and their hard-earned money for products, services or “lottery winnings” that never arrive.

“We anticipate scammers will continue to prey on the vulnerability of people as economic pressures rise in 2023,” said Kevin Roundy, researcher and technical director at Norton. “Cybercriminals love to exploit seasonal opportunities, and consumers are facing a perfect storm of rising prices in the middle of the busiest shopping season of the year, when scammers are particularly active. Scams are always harder to detect during the holiday season because consumers expect deep discounts and may believe prices that would normally seem too good to be true.”

According to Roundy, prevailing inflation and other unfavourable macroeconomic factors are likely to make people hungrier for good deals, putting them more at risk of scams than in previous years.

Norton Labs’ top cybercrime predictions for 2023

• Scammers will prey on vulnerable consumers – Norton expects a rise in financial-based scams, such as fake government assistance programs, to steal personal identifiable information; shopping deal scams that steal personal information or fail to deliver the order, and romance scams asking emotionally vulnerable consumers for money or gift cards.
   
• Short-staffed companies will be more open to vulnerabilities – Operating with smaller staff, short-staffed companies will experience a jump in data breaches and ransomware attacks.
   
• Advances in AI will make scamming easier – Norton said scammers will increasingly wield AI in their crimes as this technology becomes even more accessible and easier to use. As language and video AI models advance, scammers can imitate real people in real time with deepfakes to trick people into giving over their financial and personal information.
   
• Anticipate more breaches – Cybercriminals are finding ways to breach standard multi-factor authentication technologies. Companies that continue to use weak two-factor authentication practices will leave themselves and their customers open to serious data breaches, which can lead to mass leaks of consumer information. Norton expects to see more data breaches, making it even more critical for individuals to continue using unique, complex passwords across their accounts.