"Half of Regulated Firms See Pandemic Spike in Financial Crime"

During a new survey conducted by SmartSearch, researchers found that around half of firms in the financial services, property, and legal sectors have reported rising levels of financial crime over the past 12 months.   During the study, researchers polled 500 regulated businesses in the UK to better understand the levels of risk facing players in each vertical.  Overall, 48% of respondents said they’d seen a rise in financial crime, and a quarter (26%) admitted they’d been victims of attacks.  Legal firms, including conveyancers, experienced the most significant number of compromises, with a third (33%) saying they had been a victim of financial crime.  The researchers stated that the legal sector is an increasingly attractive target for state-backed and financially motivated cyber-criminals, given the wealth of sensitive client information that legal practices typically hold.  The SmartSearch study also revealed variations across different regions of the UK. For example, almost two-thirds (64%) of regulated businesses in the East Midlands reported a rise in fraud attempts versus 55% in London.

Infosecurity reports: "Half of Regulated Firms See Pandemic Spike in Financial Crime"