National CERT: More cyber incidents reported in 2025 than in 2024

National CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) is a body organized within Carnet, responsible for prevention and protection against computer threats in the .hr domain and the Croatian IP space.

According to its annual report for 2025, phishing attacks accounted for 32 percent of all cyber incidents, spam 19 percent, other types of financially motivated fraud 18 percent, and infrastructure attacks 12 percent.

A phishing attack is a form of cybercrime in which attackers impersonate banks, services and other institutions in order to deceive victims and steal sensitive data such as passwords, credit card numbers or OIB.

And while phishing attacks are the most common, as in previous years, Carnet pointed out that the report showed the biggest change in the type of incidents of other types of financially motivated fraud, which increased from 12 to 277.

These are incidents like the so-called sextortion fraud (extortion or blackmail based on sexual content), fake online stores, so-called work from home and investment fraud, which confirms that the attacks are increasingly turning to fraud models aimed at achieving financial profit.

Noting that the processed incidents refer exclusively to those for which the National CERT received a report or discovered them through its own activities, Carnet comments that the increase in those reports indicates the effect of the proactive actions of the National CERT and projects and campaigns to raise public awareness of the importance of cyber security and incident reporting.

According to the months, in 2025, the largest increases in the number of incidents were recorded in May and September, and in May they were associated with an increased number of phishing campaigns, such as those imitating law firms with malicious attachments, phishing campaigns imitating the e-permit system, and campaigns to take control of users’ WhatsApp accounts.

In September, the increase in incidents was again led by phishing campaigns, especially those imitating the HZZO and the Ministry of the Interior and others.