Masque Attack Leaves Apple Devices Vulnerable

The motivation behind recent security breaches like Target and JPMorgan Chase is obvious: hackers steal personal information like bank cards and social security numbers for financial gain. This information can easily be used for fraudulent purchases or other financial gain. Companies are increasingly under siege from cybersecurity threats from around the globe. Cybercrime causes an organization time, resources, and irreparable harm to their reputation if not handled appropriately.

A recent study by PwC shows that there are a number of other high-value motivations behind cybercrime in the form of ‘hacktivism.” Corporate espionage, insider and government threats, terrorism, and criminal activity are the leading motivations, the study finds.

The following chart depicts how various business sectors are vulnerable to various types of cybercrime motivation:

Source: PwC

We have seen these motivations play out in recent hacks around the globe. Cybercriminals are vicious and take no prisoners when it comes to stealing information. No business is safe and the recent JP Morgan Chase hacking further shows our vulnerability from a financial perspective. JPMorgan, the largest bank in the nation was breached in June of 2014 and the result was 76 million households and seven million small businesses compromised.

From a political perspective the dangers are equally as damaging. Cybercriminals from around the globe seek political gain by intruding our nation’s infrastructure and stealing valuableinformation that affects national security. Just recently, a Senate investigation found that Chinese Hackers infiltrated our nation’s military contractors gaining information that could potentially affect our national security. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the committee’s chairman stated that “Our findings are a warning that we must do much more to protect strategically significant systems from attack and to share information about intrusions when they do occur.”

FBI Director James Comey recently said in a “60 Minutes” interview, “There are two kinds of big companies in the United States: those who’ve been hacked by the Chinese and those who don’t know they’ve been hacked by the Chinese.”

The recent MH17 Malaysian Airlines tragedy was an opportunity for cybercriminals to expose the populous on social media through “click bait” or CPC (Cost per click) designed to steal personal data. Chris Boyd, malware intelligence analyst with Malwarebytes, told SecurityWeek that “in recent months the so-called ‘shock video’ social engineering has become more and more salacious and poor taste in an effort to keep people clicking.”

Today’s organizations are coming to understand that they must protect not only their financial data from hackers, but also their intellectual property as political and personal motivations escalate. AccelOps monitors network equipment, servers, applications, physical and virtual equipment, users, network flow data. AccelOps creates a baseline of normal activity. That means that your security, performance, availability, changes with your partners are monitored and understood. Then when unusual behavior is seen or a security issue is detected AccelOps can quickly in real-time alert your organization.

Need help securing your organization from cybercriminals? Contact us. We’re here to help.

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