Both women and men continue to face greater risks online, as confirmed by a study from the Santander Observatory on Women and Gender Equality.
Cybercrimes have become a form of violent, discriminatory, and harmful behavior. They occur via social media, email, or digital platforms, disproportionately affecting women.
In 2024, in Santander, at least 52 out of every 100 women were victims of some form of cybercrime. During that year, 1,385 cases were reported, representing an approximate 705% increase over the past decade, when there were 172 cases in 2014.
Although reports from men increased by 504%, rising from 210 to 1,268 between 2014 and 2024, the scale remains smaller than that observed among women. According to the “Santander Free of Violence Against Women and Girls” Bulletin from the Santander Observatory on Women and Gender Equality,
OMEGS, led by the Industrial University of Santander with the support of the Santander Governor’s Office, female victimization is a central component of the department’s trends,
especially since 2020, when women began to account for more than half of annual reports and reached the highest figures in the entire series. The cumulative increase in female victims not
only exceeds that of men but also shapes the recent dynamics of the phenomenon in the department.
COVID-19 Triggers a Surge in Crimes
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, there was a surge in access to digital tools. The increased use of virtual platforms and greater visibility of crimes such as computer-mediated theft, identity theft, and personal data breaches led to a rise in attacks of this nature.
According to the analytical report titled “Violence Based on…” The OMEGS report highlights that the following years maintained high levels, with moderate variations between 2,263 and 2,493 cases, reaching a peak in 2024. The complete series shows a growth trend that continues almost uninterrupted, broken only by slight declines in 2019 and 2023.
Furthermore, it reveals that cybercrimes exhibited a marked gender-based disparity, with women as the primary victims in most categories. According to the analyzed figures, women accounted for 52% of all recorded cases (1,385 out of 2,661) and were disproportionately represented in the most prevalent crimes, such as theft via computer systems, where they accounted for 51.2% of cases, and unauthorized access to computer systems, at 53.1%.
Women were also the predominant victims in personal data breaches, accounting for 55.2%, as well as in less frequent crimes, including the unauthorized transfer of assets, computer damage, and the disruption of systems.
Although men outnumbered women in specific categories such as website phishing and the use of malicious software, these categories account for a low percentage of the department’s total, confirming the central role of female victimization in the structure of cybercrimes during the year under review.
Likewise, according to the analytical report titled Gender-Based Violence in Digital Environments: Challenges for Women’s Safety and Rights in Santander, between 2014 and 2024, women, adolescents, and girls were the primary victims, as at least 6 out of 9 cases involved this demographic. The proportion rose to 80% in 2015 and reached critical peaks in 2016 and 2017, with 89.3% and 96.4% of cases, respectively.
Meanwhile, male involvement remained historically low, with percentages that rarely exceeded 30% and, in several years, did not even reach 10%, confirming a persistent pattern of inequality in the distribution of victimization by gender in the department.
This situation highlights that technology-facilitated gender-based violence has an impact on women’s health, safety, autonomy, and social participation, particularly among social leaders, journalists, young women, human rights defenders, and women of sexual minorities, who face more virulent, coordinated, and persistent attacks, warns the Santander Observatory on Women and Gender Equality.
Between 2022 and 2024, 7,419 reports of cybercrimes were filed in Santander, but only 1% of these cases proceeded to prosecution, resulting in just 46 arrests.
These results highlight a limited institutional response, which contrasts with the magnitude and persistence of this phenomenon in the department.
