[BreachExchange] Cyber Crimes and Data Breaches Go Rampant

[Audrey McNeil]

http://socialnomics.net/2017/04/06/cyber-crimes-and-data-
breaches-go-rampant/

Cyber crime has been ranked as the second most reported economic crime in
the year 2016 by the Global Economic Crime Survey Report 2016. An
escalating reliance on digital technology has rendered mankind a boon as
well as bane.

Even though organizations, businesses and individuals, are reaping greater
opportunities than before; Cyber threats continues to haunt them; perhaps
at an intense level now. The fact is not hidden but unfortunately, cyber
security remains overlooked.

The Present Scenario –

Over the time, attacks by criminals, terrorists and overseas adversaries
have become more and more sophisticated and thereby, difficult to tackle.
If we take a look at some of the biggest cyber crimes and data breaches in
the recent times, they made the news not due to degree of damage caused but
because of the resourcefulness in the approach adopted.

Even after investing a sizeable budget for online security, not many
organizations have managed to absorb a position where they are confident
enough to define their systems fail-safe or protected from cyber attacks.

The adversaries indiscriminately target both private and public sector
networks for reasons manifold: trade secrets, sensitive corporate data,
research and development, and sometimes just unintentional curiosity.

Cyber attacks for ill-will or monetary gains are generally termed as cyber
crime; on the other hand, attacks for political interests are categorized
as hacktivism or cyber terrorism.

Reputation damage is considered to be the most shattering impact of a cyber
breach. The recent data breaches to organizations like Yahoo and Google
have adversely affected their consumer base and brand image.

Organizations incur heavy losses relatively. Millions of people get
affected at one go. In fact, one-third of the organizations have reported
losses in excess of $100 million, the report said.

Operational systems are being increasingly and easily targeted as most of
them are built around weaker protocols or fail to understand the digital
footprint of their organizations. This is crucial towards correct and
timely assessment of the risks.

Cyber Facts –

The study revealed that mere 37% respondents, mostly from the financial
services industry, have an active operational Incident Response Plan.
Nearly 19% are not even aware of this plan, whereas 14% do not find a need
to implement it in the coming years.

Only four out of ten companies stated that they have “trained personnel” to
act as first respondents at the time of a cyber crisis. The situation is
even alarming as 73% of them were IT Security Staff. A general lack of
awareness and preparedness renders it the character of a ceaseless and
dangerous threat.

The Road Ahead –

Also, the very characteristics of cyberspace i.e. the low marginal cost of
online activity, the extensive reach of the internet and the relative
anonymity of users, have lowered the costs of trespassing by eliminating
certain barriers to enter and reduced the probability of getting caught.

The responses in turn, for example, the use of novel authorization and
surveillance regimes to deter undesirable activity, raised concerns
regarding issues relating to civil liberties, privacy, collective security
and individual freedom. Hence it is not getting the exposure that it should.

However, some other features of cyberspace itself provide new opportunities
to tackle these breaches. Use of VPNs and private search engines are some
of the practices that can be easily incorporated in our day to day working.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.riskbasedsecurity.com/pipermail/breachexchange/attachments/20170407/2301ede3/attachment.html>