Cyber-crime increasingly coming with threats of physical violence
Cyber-crime increasingly comes with threats of physical violence. Tim Beasley opened his front door a few years ago and discovered "what the heck is this?" He opened the box, and went "oh!", and he immediately threw it away." Inside was a threatening note alluding to physical violence if he didn't back off.
Cyber-attacks continue to soar worldwide. In the US alone, the number of reported instances has increased from 288,012 in 2015 to 1,008,597 last year, a record high, according to new figures from the FBI. The resulting financial loss for US companies and other organisations totalled $20.8bn in 2025, up from $16.6bn in 2024. The number of physical threats rose more than twofold in the US last year, FBI annual data show. Separate research from Semperis found that in as many as 40% of global ransomware attacks in 2025, criminals threatened to physically harm staff members who refused to pay a ransom demand. The phenomenon was said to be even more widespread in the US, where companies experienced physical threats 46% of the time. Zac Warren said, "We started getting reports that employees within the hospital were getting phone calls," and "So they were calling into the hospital… and asking for nurses by their name, and then talking to them and telling them that they knew where they lived."
Many ransomware gangs are state-sponsored, and threats of violence have been seen coming from Russia, China, Iran, and, in some cases, North Korea. The FBI's profile of one such group indicated an age range of mostly between 17 and 25. Tim Beasley
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Cyber-attacks are soaring worldwide, with hackers infiltrating computer systems to steal data. An increasing number of cyber attackers are now going further, threatening actual violence- but who are they targeting?
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