Cyber-criminality on the rise in Belgium

Data released by the federal police reveals that cases of cyber-crime rose sharply in Belgium in 2012, Telecompaper reports. The police recorded 36 cases of cyber-crime in 2011, compared to 2,000 in the first half of this year alone. Ransomware and the Microsoft Scam come up as the most frequent types of cyber-crime. In the first case, the user's computer freezes, with a message then appearing from an organisation such as the police or authors rights society Sabam, stating that the computer can be unblocked for between €50 and €100. With the Microsoft Scam, users are contacted over the phone by people purporting to be Microsoft employees selling anti-malware software.