Danger from cybercrime stretches to national security, Google threat report finds

A new report from the Google Threat Intelligence Group finds familiar foes behind cybercrime—and details the social and economic effects of attacks.

In the Feb. 11 report, “Cybercrime: A Multifaceted National Security Threat,” researchers at Google examined the rise in cybercrime over the past few years, with a focus on 2024, and found that attacks have a deleterious effect on national security, whether intentional or not.

Specifically, Google’s threat researchers found that “financially motivated cyber intrusions, even those without any ties to state goals, harm national security.” While cybercrime could be considered a somewhat isolated phenomenon that only has a limited effect—on the victim organization and its users and clients—the aggregate effect on the economy and on defenders can damage overall readiness.

Damages. As an example, Google Threat Intelligence Group Senior Manager Ben Read told IT Brew, someone at a firm might download a video that has malware on it. The damage might be limited, but there’s more to it than just the immediate effect on the user’s device.

“It’s not a huge incident, but still it’s taking time,” Read told IT Brew. “And that’s time that both could be spent another way, and security operation centers aren’t hunting for some of the more stealthy activity that’s out there.”

That’s not to say that much of cybercrime targeting the US isn’t directly in service of other nations. The threat assessment found that Russia, as well as China, Iran, and North Korea, benefits from some cybercriminal activities, including ransomware.

Taking care of business. Google researchers feel that the best way to address cybercrime is to treat it as a national security issue. The Whac-A-Mole approach of targeting one gang at a time isn’t working; in order to really break the power of these groups, a more comprehensive portfolio of tactics is needed, they concluded.

When asked how this approach would work as far as specific policy changes, Read declined to offer details, telling IT Brew the piece was “not in front of me.” But he did suggest that, broadly speaking, solutions would require international coordination.

“The response is going to require people from multiple countries collaborating to try to cut down on how profitable it is,” Read said.