Cybercrime is a real threat to all types of businesses, big and small. While it is true that larger businesses are a bigger target of cybercriminals, many small business owners fail to assess the risk that a cyber-attack could have on their company.
Cybercrime is the fastest growing type of criminal activity in the United States. It affects hundreds of thousands of Americans every year, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported complaints statistics.
The cost of cybercrime to U.S. citizens and/or businesses is a staggering $2.7 billion of financial losses in 2018. Business Email Compromise (BEC) and Email Account Compromise (EAC) alone accounted for over $1.2 billion of the loss.
Commonly known as phishing, BEC/EAC is a sophisticated scam targeting individuals and businesses that utilize wire transfer payments by either a spoofing email, call or text that impersonates a person in authority requesting that the victim purchase multiple gift cards for personal or business reasons.
Commercial airway transportation, healthcare and educational institutions were the most targeted industries of Payroll Diversion last year. Last year, over one hundred million in salary was stolen through Payroll Diversion frauds.
Cybercriminals target employees through phishing emails attempting to get access to login credentials. Once obtained, the cybercriminal will prevent the employee from receiving alerts regarding their direct deposit changes. The direct deposit is then diverted to an alternative account, often a ‘prepaid card’ that is untraceable.
Another growing problem in 2018 was tech support fraud by a criminal masquerading as a customer, security or technical support representative offering to resolve security breaches or claiming that the victim’s device or accounts were compromised. To find out the various methods used or how the fraud occurs, reference this Public Service Announcement by the IC3:
https://www.ic3.gov/media/2018/180328.aspx
Current and Ongoing Internet Crime Schemes
Watering holes are websites that have been hijacked and turned into malicious websites that attempt to install malware onto a device.
“As we move towards digitization, the number and type of devices requiring enhanced security measures increase too. Mobiles, tablets, wearables and Internet of Things (IoT) enabled devices all fall short in the traditional approach of securing network perimeters by a firewall. Additionally, new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning are providing attackers with enhanced tools for more complex attacks.” —
Neil Campbell, Director of Security Solutions, Telstra
The main goal of a cybercriminal is to get your data. Data is anything from intellectual property or personal information, to credit card or financial information. If your data is stolen or encrypted, how would your business recover?
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