Madrid, Feb 8 (AP) Spain's government on Wednesday pledged stronger action against cybercrime, saying it has come to account for about a fifth of all offenses registered in the country.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said police would be given additional staff, funding and resources to address online crime.

Also Read | Detective Who Investigated Tatarov’s Alleged Corruption Removed from NABU … – Latest Tweet by The Kyiv Independent.

He said reported cases of cybercrime were up 72 per cent last year compared to 2019, and 352 per cent compared to 2015.

“The ... decline in conventional crime and the increase in cybercrime has brought us to a turning point: today, one in every five crimes in Spain is committed online," he told a press conference in Madrid.

Also Read | Earthquake in Turkey, Syria: Kerala Government Announces Rs 10 Crore Relief Package for Quake-hit Turkey, Syria.

Almost 90 per cent of cybercrimes reported last year involved online fraud schemes, Grande-Marlaska said. “This ... has a remarkable and negative impact on national interests, institutions, companies and citizens,” he added.

On Tuesday, Spain's defense minister approved the creation of a new military cyberoperations training school to further reinforce national security online.

Spain is among the countries that suffer the largest numbers of remote online attacks in the world, according to data from antivirus protection specialist ESET. Small businesses are particularly affected.

José Cano, Research Director at market intelligence firm IDC Spain, said a lack of talent and skills had left Spanish businesses exposed to the increasing sophistication of online criminals, who are innovating to bypass multi-factor authentication and other safeguards.

“Cyber-resilience is not only about enterprise value and reducing business risk, but also about national economic security,” Cano said.

“European companies, especially Spanish companies, will increasingly incorporate cyber-resilience planning into their business and security strategies.” (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)