A report has been published which details cyber threats to the island during November and December of last year.

The Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance (OCSIA) will now be publishing a report on cyber threats every two months.

OCSIA, established by the Council of Ministers in 2017, is a government department which aims to develop the island’s cyber resilience.

The report investigates common cyber threats and scams in the island.

Joe Chamberlain, cyber intelligence and information governance support officer explained the motivations behind the report: ‘This is something we have been considering, having been patently aware that most other documents of this kind tend to focus on UK or global matters and trends.

‘By aggregating our received reports we can assess what is most likely to affect island residents/businesses and add context in order to better prepare them for any potential threat.’

One of the scams identified in the report is a driving instructor hack, which was reported seven times in the period.

The reports related to a local driving instructor whose account had been compromised, with the account being used to scam funds out of potential customers.

The report said: ‘In reported cases, the malicious actor requested funds as an advance payment of driving lessons, subsequently funds were transferred to a Revolut account, and some reporters were only made aware of the scam when the impersonated business did not attend the booking.’

One of the most reported scams in the period was a WhatsApp scam, in which an unknown number contacts the victim pretending to be a son or daughter.

The scammer creates a story, and asks the mother to transfer funds, to replace a lost phone, or sometimes to pay a debt to a friend.

Another scam reported was text messages claiming to be from a parcel delivery service, which requests payment to release a parcel for delivery or asking the message recipients to update contact details.

Mr Chamberlain said: ‘There is no doubt that globally, crimes that can be committed electronically are migrating to the digital space.

‘This doesn’t mean an increase overall as the more traditional methods will start to wane being replaced by the digital or cyber-crimes.

‘Scams and threats have always and will continue to be a problem, but the more people report the better we can protect ourselves.

‘ We’ve had a slight increase in the number of reports received in 2022 in comparison to 2021, but this is simply due to increased awareness of the reporting point.’

‘As we move more towards the use of digital services it is very important they understand what the risks are and how they might better protect themselves. By highlighting the threats we are better able to help them do this.’

You can find the report on OCSIA’s website, the next report will be published in March.