In 2019, cybercrime and fraud constituted 42% of all criminal activity. With the advances in technology the whole of society is experiencing, its no surprise that crime is evolving too.. We need to be alive to the fact pension schemes and administration providers are attractive to cybercriminals. Partly because of all the personal data processed but also because of the importance of ensuring pension payments continue uninterrupted, as well as the potential of ransomware attacks.

Information released by the Information Commissioner’s Office in July 2020 shows since the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation there have been 158 reported breaches in the pensions sector.

At least 43 were categorised as relating to security, unauthorised access or phishing. What is cybercrime though? While recognising it is an evolving phenomenon, it typically takes one of two forms, phishing or ransomware. Phishing, in broad terms, relates to obtaining sensitive information by disguising yourself as a trustworthy entity, which can be initiated by a variety of means.

For example, targeted emails (spear phishing), altering previous emails (clone phishing), and website forgery or vishing (voice phishing). Ransomware involves gaining access to files in some form, making them inaccessible and holding them to ransom.

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