Diario Extra – Cyber ​​Crimes and Digital Scams

According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), by August 2020 telecommunications networks and infrastructure, as well as computer programs, are being used more and more frequently to develop productive, educational, and social activities. health, relationship and entertainment. During the last year, information technologies have been essential to keep the economy and society functioning. The health measures implemented to contain the spread of Sars-CoV-2 and mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic, moderated the migration from daily activities to the non-presence of the digital world. In relative terms, between the first and second quarters of the previous year, the use of teleworking solutions increased 324% and online education increased more than 60%. On the other hand, by June 2020, the online presence of retail companies increased by 431% compared to June 2019; During the same period, the increase in the case of restaurants and food delivery services was 331% and in the case of business services, 311%.
According to the Inter-American Development Bank (2020), as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, in just 3 months there was an acceleration in the digital transformation that had been anticipated to occur in at least three years. Collaterally, the result of this transition has been an unprecedented increase in the surface area suitable for a cyber attack. In the context of a digital ecosystem full of already amplified vulnerabilities; which includes more than 20,000 million devices connected to the Internet around the world. The accelerated advance in Information and Computing Technologies (ICT), as well as their almost improvised implementation in productive and daily activities in the framework of the pandemic. They configure the factors for the exponential growth of cybersecurity risks, while technical and legal responses are generated at a rather logarithmic rate. Cybercrime damages are estimated to reach $ 6 trillion by 2021.
Protect information while trying to reap the benefits of the fourth industrial revolution; has put cyber security high on the public agenda. According to the Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model (CMM), of the Global Cybersecurity Capability Center (GCSCC), University of Oxford. Costa Rica is part of the group of Latin American nations that have included specialized development in this area within their national policies and strategies since 2016 through a multisectoral and interdisciplinary approach.
Despite the fact that the last substantial punitive reform of the Costa Rican Penal Code in relation to this matter occurred in 2012; through the approval of Law No. 9048. Costa Rica has made progress in matters of Data Protection Legislation, Online Child Protection, Consumer Protection Legislation and Intellectual Property Legislation. However, the country has not developed legal responses at the forefront of the evolution of the forms of cybercrime and suffers from legislation regulating the theft of credit card information, grooming and cyberbullying. Legal and regulatory frameworks are just one of the dimensions that CMM assesses. The other four variables of the model are: Cybersecurity Policies and Strategies; Cybernetic Culture and Society; Cybersecurity education, training and skills; and Standards, organizations and technologies.
In relative terms, during the period from 2014 to 2018, online fraud and scam increased by 242.86%, being the crimes with the highest growth in Costa Rican territory. According to the National Household Survey of the Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC), 34,237 Costa Rican households were victims of these crimes during 2018. The volatility of innovation in the world of ICT, their universal utility, their versatility to create agile solutions and the digital exodus of contemporary society. They represent growing threats against information privacy and computer security, in the face of technical and operational limitations to effectively respond to cybercrime. They suggest the need for joint and coordinated actions from the spheres of the International System, the inter-institutional sphere at the State level, and the productive sector; but it also requires changes in the behavior of users with respect to the management of their data and mobile devices to successfully repel computer attacks.