Cybersecurity Intelligence Briefing — March 18, 2025

Executive briefing: The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) published the 2024 Internet Crime Report on March 18, 2025, documenting $12.5 billion in reported U.S. cybercrime losses—a 22% increase year over year—with business email compromise (BEC) and ransomware leading. Europol’s Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) 2024 highlights similar ransomware dominance across EU member states and rising abuse of generative AI for phishing and fraud.

Key industry signals

Ransomware cost surge. IC3 recorded 3,439 ransomware complaints with adjusted losses exceeding $1.3 billion, while Europol flags healthcare and manufacturing as top targets.
BEC sophistication. U.S. victims reported $3.1 billion in BEC-adjusted losses, with adversaries exploiting deepfake audio/video during payment diversion scams.
AI-enabled fraud. Europol notes the use of large language models to create convincing phishing kits and lures, shortening attack preparation cycles.

Control alignment

NIST CSF 2.0. Prioritise identity-centric controls (Protect 5) and anomaly detection (Detect 2) to counter BEC and ransomware.
ISO/IEC 27002:2022. Reinforce Annex A controls on secure development, supplier relationships, and communications to mitigate highlighted fraud vectors.

Detection and response priorities

Enhance payment verification workflows with multi-factor out-of-band confirmation to counter BEC techniques cited by IC3.
Deploy ransomware behavioural analytics covering lateral movement and data exfiltration, aligning with Europol and FBI guidance.

Enablement moves

Update board and audit committee reporting with IC3 loss metrics and IOCTA sector trends to justify investment in detection, response, and recovery.
Partner with law enforcement liaison programs (FBI InfraGard, Europol EC3) to streamline incident reporting and intelligence sharing.

Sources

Zeph Tech equips security, fraud, and risk teams with authoritative law-enforcement data to prioritise 2025 mitigation roadmaps.