N AT I O N A L CY B E R S ECU R I T Y ST R AT EGY © iStock 10 Cybercrimes 15. The second target of the Strategy is to ensure the prevention and investigation of cybercrimes. 16. Cybercrimes have a negative impact on the global economy. According to research2, global damage caused by cybercrimes amounts to hundred billions euros a year and has been increasing. Persons committing cybercrimes are interested not only in financial details, but also in data, in general. For this reason, the number of crimes that undermine electronic data and information system security specified in Chapter XXX of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania has also been steadily growing. According to the data of the Institutional Register of Crimes, in 2017, 594 cybercrimes were recorded; in 2016, 336 offences were recorded. As the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) operating within the European Police Office (hereinafter referred to as the “EC3”) states, cybercrimes are most often encoun2 Center for Strategic and International Studies, M cAfee (2018). Economic Impact of Cybercrime – No Slowing Down, Cybersecurity Ventures, Herjavec Group (2017). 2017 Cybercrime Report. 3 Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) (2017). 2017 Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) tered by those European Union Member States that have a well-developed broadband infrastructure and well-functioning online payment systems.3 17. Referring to the data of a survey conducted by PwC in 2018 (Global Economic Crime Survey 2018), in 2018, fraud crimes committed in cyberspace were among the most common crimes which caused the most damage to private sector entities. EC3 forecasts that the rapid development of ICT and methods of social engineering, among other reasons, will increase the number of cybercrimes. Moreover, cybercrimes which do not necessarily involve the use of ICT, for instance, fraud or extortion, are “going digital“. In order to commit cybercrimes or to conceal their traces, the latest ICT solutions, cryptocurrencies and services offered in anonymous networks are used. 18. The company Cybersecurity Ventures calculated in 2017 that the financial damages caused by cybercrimes using malware have been increasing each year. Additionally, they forecast that by the end of the year 2019, the world would suffer the damage of more than USD 11 billion due to the spread of ransomware. EC3 predicts that this trend will continue due to the increase of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Although malware is only one type of cybercrimes, the European Union Agency for Network and