Social engineering

A 75-year-old woman from Varna is in custody after she was detained while collecting money from a telephone scam. This happened as part of an operation by the National Police and police officers from Varna.

Greece's Cyber Security Authority has issued an advisory concerning a spike in phishing attacks - that is seemingly innocent SMS messages and emails purporting to be from official agencies asking for sensitive private information. 

The Culture Ministry's website and computer systems have been down since Wednesday morning because of a cyberattack, authorities have announced.

The website and systems were taken down for security reasons after the attack, while tne ministry and the National Cybersecurity Authority are investigating. Authorities say they have found no stole data so far.

Ten people were arrested on Thursday in Thessaloniki for online fraud, police said.

The suspects had created fake websites of legitimate banks through which they copied the personal information and passwords of their victims and used them to transfer large sums of money to their own bank accounts and others abroad. 

Even if one doesn't visit a dangerous website or click on a link, attackers can break into the device and hijack data, a cyber security specialist has warned.

The Internet has introduced a platform called "cyber space," which has enormous effects even on social lives.

A new Development Ministry bill provides for the compensation of bank customers should they become victims of electronic fraud, such as the theft and use of their debit card PIN, even if this is due to their own negligence.

Phishing is the most prevalent

Montenegro was allegedly hit by the Cuba Ransomware gang, while online frauds and phishing scams occurred elsewhere throughout the region.

"After the ransomware attack last week, Government DNS namespace is blocked so the administration switched to offline mode. According to internal investigation, a cyber-attack happened after a malicious software was uploaded from the computer in one of Government services," a government source told BIRN, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Always contact your bank if you believe you have been scammed