2014 World’s Top 5 Cybercrime Countries

Nowadays cybercrime is a worldwide business. With more and more security threats appearing online and millions of dollars that cyber criminals make, it is difficult to deny that. In the most recent massive hack more than 1.2 billion usernames and passwords were stolen. Considering that in total there are 2.9 billion Internet users in the world, it is indeed a massive hack. This particular crime was committed by Russian techies, however, it is not the only country where cybercrime seems to pay.

Top 5 Cybercrime Countries

1. Russia

Russian cyber criminals are the most advanced hackers in the world. The recent hack mentioned above alone is a proof of that. However, large scale operations are not exactly new for Russian hackers. Skilled IT specialists prefer to make profit distributing malware rather than having legal jobs.

One of the newest malicious programs is called Pademiya Banking Trojan. It is sold on underground forums for up to 2000$. The application is said to be able to steal personal data by taking snapshots of the computer screen and injecting browsers with fake pages.

Afterwards, this data is send it to a remote server where the hackers decide what to do with it. Pademiya is a unique malware program that differs from the infamous Zeus Trojan. It has advanced evasion abilities and a modular design that is easy to expand. Needless to say, you do not want to your PC to be infected by this malware.

2. China

Although China ranks high on the list, it is interesting that the main cybercrimes here are committed not by nameless hackers, but rather by government officials. A few months ago five Chinese government officials were accused of hacking six U.S. companies and stealing their sensitive data. Apparently, cyber criminals that are caught in China receive job offers instead of jail sentences.

3. Vietnam

I.T. industry has been rapidly developing in Vietnam over the past decade. Not too long ago a Vietnamese hacker was said to have stolen over 150 million private credentials from Europe and the U.S. Moreover, same as in China, the government is also recruiting talented hackers to monitor activists, journalists and anyone else who may be a threat.

4. Nigeria

Nigeria is well-known for the spam e-mail scams. Now, however, there seems to be more than that. Many cyber criminals choose Nigeria as the place to carry out their cybercrimes. The reason for that is simple: the country's government does not do much in order to catch the hackers thus creating the perfect conditions for them. Hopefully, the recently forwarded Cybercrime Bill to the Senate which should be enacted into law against Internet fraud will change that.

5. Brazil

Brazil is relatively new to the cybercrime market, however, it appears that Brazilians are slowly, but surely learning from their colleagues. Using malware purchased from underground Eastern European forums, they attack computers of local companies or individuals. These purchases are so frequent that Brazilian hackers even receive tech support for the "products" they acquire.

Five Cybercrime Hotspots

"More cyber criminals are entering into the game at a quicker pace than quite honestly we can keep up with."

Whether or not the country you live in is on the list, you should always be careful while browsing the web in order to avoid getting infected by malware and suffering financial losses. Having a reliable anti-malware tool and keeping it up-to-date is the most important thing you can do in order to keep your PC safe and protected.