Cybercrime has become the world’s third economy, more precisely, IT threats cost society 9 trillion dollars, says Bogdan Botezatu, senior director, threat research and reporting at Bitdefender. «Computer threats cost society 9 trillion dollars. If we were to compare, we are dealing with the world’s third largest economy (after the USA and China, over Germany – ed.). Computer fraud alone is responsible for 1 trillion dollars, i.e. a value similar to that of Poland’s GDP. And we are talking about a fairly new threat», explains the executive who has been working for the company for 18 years. He held the presentation on the Fiorano circuit, the private circuit of Ferrari. Bitdefender, one of the largest IT companies in Romania, controlled by the family of mathematicians Măriuca and Florin Talpeş, became a partner of the Scuderia Ferrari HP team in September 2022. A year later, the partnership expanded to integrate cyber security solutions into the Italian manufacturer’s security operations, with the aim of helping Ferrari’s IT security analysts to validate and triage alerts faster, improve threat hunting capabilities and response to incidents. Later, the two groups extended the multi-year agreement to 2025, and Bitdefender, which has become one of the major global players in the cyber security segment, entered the 2026 season as the exclusive cyber security partner of Scuderia Ferrari HP. a strong emotional bond with the teams or pilots. While the organizers invest heavily in protecting the technical data on the track (telemetry), the fans pay much less attention to the cyber threats that directly target them. The methods are multiple, from «free» broadcast traps to counterfeit product campaigns. For example, sites that promise free video streaming of races operate as «scam funnels», redirecting users to fake subscriptions, aggressive ads, dubious Telegram channels or dangerous downloads.
«Some people want to watch a LIVE broadcast on the Internet, without paying for it, as would be the case on the official channel. And for some, the fear of losing the race is greater than the fear of losing money», says Bogdan Botezatu.
At the same time, fake stores are intensively promoted on social networks with messages like «80% discounts on sunglasses» (such as those from Ferrari). Criminals use newly created web pages that are faithfully copied from the real ones. «There is a pattern in fake merchandising – there is always an 80% price reduction. And products related to different sports are targeted.» Moreover, the executive explains, this is a «seasonal» economy, in the sense that Formula 1 fans are targeted during the season, and then the criminals move to other sports, from football to cricket. Scams follow a fixed schedule: fake ticket offers and phishing explode before the race; illegal transmissions increase during the race; and after the race there are trap videos and fake raffles. Behind these hoaxes are not amateurs, but organized groups that use advanced digital marketing techniques (constant budgets, customized ads by country and target audience), imitating the behavior of legitimate online stores. «We have identified five big actors who are responsible for these scams, which they do repeatedly. These are specialized actors. One targets Russian speakers in Georgia and Kazakhstan. A group in Bulgaria is known for selling fake glasses. They have a customized infrastructure.» Hackers use websites and web domains created in the short term; they appear, for example, just before the race weekend and quickly disappear immediately after its completion so as not to be detected. In reality, there are many more ways in which users can be tricked on the Internet. «For example, since 2025 a new cyber threat has appeared – even this does not happen often, hackers like stability.» These are «ClickFix» type attacks. Instead of breaking into complex computer systems, attackers use message manipulation. They convince users that they have a technical problem, causing them to install their own viruses on their devices. «The click-fix attack is designed to give the user the impression that he is fixing something. Then, after he executes those commands, the hackers take everything from the browser. It is called info stealer and dominates the Internet. Hackers steal from passwords and history to card data, all through cookies. In this way, the attackers have access to all the information, which they can use in a discretionary way.» They can’t change your passwords, for example, but they can enjoy all the data available during those prime hours. Not even methods like Two Factor Authentication can protect you, explains Bogdan Botezatu
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