The Swiss National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) published its consolidated figures for 2022: over 34,500 incident reports, with steady growth compared to previous years.

The most prevalent threats

Among the most represented categories in the report:

  • Fake extortion emails — approximately 33% of total reports. These are messages claiming to have recorded the recipient in compromising situations and demanding a cryptocurrency payment to avoid releasing the material
  • Phishing — attempts to steal banking credentials, corporate login details or personal information via email and counterfeit websites
  • Online fraud — fake sales, non-existent listings, e-commerce platform scams

What it means for SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises are often the preferred target because they combine valuable business data with less robust protection systems than large organisations. The average cost of an incident — between operational downtime, recovery and potential penalties — frequently exceeds the cost of a preventive security investment.

NCSC recommendations

The NCSC recommends as minimum measures for companies:

  • Two-factor authentication on all critical services
  • Regular verified backups, stored offline or on isolated systems
  • Periodic staff training on recognising suspicious emails
  • Timely updates of operating systems and software

The full report is available on the official site ncsc.admin.ch.

Sources