Cybercrime During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

4Cybercrime in Brazil After the Covid-19 Global Crisis: An Assessment of the Policies Concerning International Cooperation for Investigations and Prosecutions

4.1. Introduction: Brazilian cybercrime and the Covid crisis impact

Cybercrime is not a new subject for Brazilian authorities. A 2015 article states that Brazil was the second most vulnerable country to cybercrime (Muggah and Thompson 2015). The article also informs us that Brazilian society has lost between 4.1 and 4.7 billion US dollars in data theft and financial fraud. Most of the targets of cybercrime were businesses and citizens who had money in banks. The article concludes that the Brazilian government and society should implement more reforms to tackle cybercrime. But how is the country performing reforms to achieve this? This chapter answers this question with two evaluations: the most recent reforms and what else is coming shortly. In addition, it traces the current situation of cybercrime in Brazil after the pandemic crisis using multi-sources data. It uses quantitative data available from SaferNet and the Federal Prosecutors’ Office of Brazil and qualitative data from four exploratory interviews with law enforcement personnel (LEP). SaferNet is a non-profit and non-governmental organization that dates back to 2005 (SaferNet, 2021a). Its mission is to support a safer usage of the Internet. It has partnerships with many Brazilian state agencies, enterprises and other non-governmental organizations (SaferNet, ...