Crimes against businesses: 18 thousand reports in one year on the Island. Cybercrime alert
Confartigianato Report: Crimes against businesses on the Island are on the rise, victims of theft, extortion, fraud and counterfeiting. Computer violations register +34% in 5 years
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In Sardinia, crimes against business activities are increasing and there are over 18 thousand reports filed in one year. But cybercrime is also a concern, with reports that have registered a +34% in the last five years.
This is what Confartigianato Sardegna reports in a study entitled “Asset security for companies in
a situation dominated by uncertainty”, based on Istat and the Ministry of the Interior sources between 2019 and 2023, according to which during the year on the island 15 “crimes” were recorded for every 100 businesses .
In total, 18,276 Sardinian companies have reported crimes against their economic activity such as theft, extortion, fraud, computer fraud, counterfeiting of brands and industrial products, violations of intellectual property, receiving stolen goods, money laundering, usury, damage and smuggling . Many more are those who have suffered attacks and damage but have not had the strength and courage to report the crime.
The analysis also highlights how 43.8% of these crimes reported to the Police Forces concern computer crimes. Of this percentage, 91% are represented by computer scams and frauds, such as phishing or manipulation of computer systems, while the remaining 9% concern more specific computer crimes, such as unauthorized access, damage through software or hardware and illicit distribution of access codes.
"Unfortunately, the action of crime against businesses is a general danger - comments Giacomo Meloni, President of Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna - even if in our Island these crimes have grown less than in other territories, the constant trend of growth is worrying".
"The main concern comes from cybercrime," Meloni analyzes, " digital threats spare no one: even small artisan businesses, including shops, workshops and digitalized laboratories in Sardinia, are increasingly targeted."
Giacomo Meloni
Although serious and worrying, the data place the Sardinian region in a median situation (11th position) in the ranking opened by the over 184 thousand crimes registered in Lombardy (19 crimes for every 100 businesses) and the 114 in Lazio (22 for every 100 businesses), against a national total of 935 thousand (18 for every 100 businesses).
Still scrolling through the data in the report, Sardinia went from 16,982 crimes in 2019, to 15,990 in 2020, to 17,376 in 2021, to 18,240 in 2022 to reach 18,276 in 2023 , recording an increase of 0.2% in the last 2 years, equivalent to the third-last national position, against the +13.6% of Molise (first) and the +11.8% of Piedmont (second), against a national average of +5.6%.
At a territorial level, 9,258 complaints were received in the province of Cagliari, 5,978 in the province of Sassari-Gallura, 2,124 in the province of Nuoro and 891 in Oristano.
«Companies in general – continues the President of Confartigianato Sardegna – also underestimate the risks linked to vulnerabilities of exposed systems, which are therefore easy prey for remote attackers».
" We need a culture of cybersecurity - concludes Meloni - that starts from the training of entrepreneurs and workers up to the adoption of good practices and adequate technologies and accompanying companies in paths of awareness, protection and rapid response to attacks: cybersecurity is not a cost, but a strategic investment for the survival and competitiveness of artisan businesses".
