LexisNexis Risk Solutions cybercrime report, which tracked global cybercrime activity from January through June 2020, was released on Wednesday. The report explains how COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the global digital economy, regional economies, industries, businesses and consumer behavior, according to a press release.

The cybercrime report analyzes data from more than 22.5 billion transactions processed by the company's digital identity network. Mobile device transactions increased, with 66% of all transactions coming from mobile devices in the first half of 2020, up from 20% in early 2015.

All industries felt the impact of COVID-19, and the increase and decrease in transaction volume coincides with global lockdown periods.

Financial institutions and financial service organizations benefitted from new-to-digital banking users, attributed to the pandemic. E-commerce merchants saw an increase in digital payments, as well as fraud attacks, that coincide with the lockdown period. These included account takeover attacks using identity spoofing and more first-party chargeback fraud.

"This is the first LexisNexis Risk Solutions Cybercrime Report to include data on the new reality of conducting business during a pandemic," Rebekah Moody, director of fraud and identity at LexisNexis Risk Solutions said in the release. "The move to digital, for both businesses and consumers, has been significant. Yet with this change comes opportunity for exploitation. Fraudsters look for easy targets: whether government support packages, new lines of credit or media companies with fewer barriers to entry. We need to ensure that all consumers, especially those who might be new to digital, are protected. Businesses must arm themselves with a layered defense that can detect the full spectrum of possible attacks and is future-proofed against evolving threats."