Tag Archive for: Season

Why Banks & Financial Institutions Must Take Extra Cybersecurity Measures During Festive Season

/in


Technological advancement in the past few decades has changed the way people live and how businesses operate all over the world. Everything in our life has become easier, faster and much more convenient. However, it’s impossible to ignore the flip side to such a scenario. Today, more crimes are being conducted via the internet and a computer rather than a gun. 

Each year, a growing number of individuals and organisations fall prey to cyberattacks. As cyber threats continue to evolve, the facts and figures become more and more concerning. This is even more so for banks, NBFCs and institutions belonging to the financial sector – a sector associated with money, information and the public.

Cyberattacks On The Financial Sector

Cybercriminals have diverse reasons to target banks and other financial institutions. The financial sector houses the most sensitive data and liquid assets. By gaining access to a financial institution’s database, hackers can steal money or spy on organisations and its customers. They can sell the stolen confidential data and use the money to fund terrorist attacks. By hacking into a network, cybercriminals can even manipulate or disrupt markets, which interests state actors. 

Hackers can damage, destroy and misuse important data, intellectual property, steal money, commit fraud, embezzlement, and identity theft. Cyberattacks, even unsuccessful ones, carry the potential to disrupt usual business activities, leading to loss of financial and other resources. Besides affecting a financial institution’s solvency, cybersecurity failures can also ruin an organisation’s reputation, proving even more crippling than financial losses. As most of the banking system lies interconnected, the spillover of cyberattacks on other banks can even paralyse the overarching financial system of a state. 

Over the past few years, hackers have been carrying out more sophisticated and large scale attacks on this sector. In 2016, Bangladesh’s central bank became victim to one of them, losing nearly $100 million. In 2017, Equifax, a credit reporting agency, reported the largest publicly disclosed breaches in history. Sensitive personal…

Source…

Cyber shopping is hunting season for hackers :: WRAL.com

/in


By Adam Owen, WRAL anchor/reporter

As the pandemic drives more holiday shoppers to fill their carts online, it’s hunting season for the bad guys.

A cybercrime expert says those struggling financially are more likely to fall for too-good-to-be-true deals.

Rob Goldfinger is a global financial crimes expert with BAE Systems Artificial Intelligence.

“People online are letting their guard down,” he says.

He urged those who shop online to stay focused and be vigilant for the tricks that criminals use to gather personal and financial information.

Goldfinger suggests sticking to stores, brands and sites that are familiar. It’s safer to seek out sites – type in an address you know – than to follow links in ads or in email.

“If an ad pops up,” he said, “You should say, ‘That is not what I was originally looking for.'”

Keep the security programs on your computer current, and check that the network is secure. It’s best to shop from home or work.

A device may detect multiple Wi-Fi networks. Make sure to connect to one that is secure.

Even with precautions, if a vendor’s site is hacked, personal information could be stolen. Goldfinger suggests tracking purchased and your bank account and credit care statements carefully to challenge any unexpected charges.

Report anything suspicious to law enforcement and to the bank or credit card company immediately.

Source…

Maintaining Retailer Cybersecurity During Peak Holiday Shopping Season

/in


Each year, retailers eagerly look forward to Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the start of the holiday shopping season. And for good reason, since these few short days account for 20-30% of annual sales. In 2019, the weekend generated $7.4 billion in online sales and consumers spent $11 million per minute at the peak of online activity.

Cybercriminals look forward to the holiday season no less avidly. After all, more transactions means more opportunities for cyber thievery.

Retailers are a favored target of cybercriminals because they have personal information, including credit card information, for millions of people. That data is a treasure trove that can be readily sold or exploited by hackers.

Supply Chain Vulnerabilities

Retailers, of course, aim to provide as frictionless an experience as possible for their customers, based on the understanding that an easier purchase process makes it more likely that customers will buy – and return to buy more. This often means storing lots of sensitive customer information, including credit card information, to make shopping more convenient. It also increasingly means depending on technology solutions from a growing number of third-party vendors. According to one survey, companies allow 89 vendors, on average, to access their networks.

Supply chain vulnerabilities have led to major data breaches for retailers. Examples include:

  • . Cybercriminals made off with credit or debit card information for 40 million accounts in an attack that was routed through the company’s HVAC vendor.
  • Home Depot. Accessing the Home Depot network via a third-party vendor, attackers installed malware that enabled them to steal information for 56 million credit/debit card accounts.
  • Under Armour. 150 million accounts were compromised by an attack that came through the MyFitness Pal app, which Under Armour had acquired.
  • Saks, Lord & Taylor. Five million credit and debit card accounts were compromised by an attack via a cash register system vendor.

According to a report from IBM, the average cost of a data breach in the United States in 2020 was over $8 million. In some cases, such as if the breach results in a violation of European data privacy laws and triggers massive…

Source…

Cyber Warfare Doesn’t Take a Break During Coronavirus Season; US Health Agencies Are Fending off DDoS Attacks and Disinformation Campaigns in the Midst of a Pandemic – CPO Magazine

/in

Cyber Warfare Doesn’t Take a Break During Coronavirus Season; US Health Agencies Are Fending off DDoS Attacks and Disinformation Campaigns in the Midst of a Pandemic  CPO Magazine
“cyber warfare news” – read more