by Brian Thompson | May 20, 2021 | Breach, Identity Theft
The danger of complacency makes hackers successful at phishing and ransomware.
The recent Colonial Pipeline cyberattack forced Colonial to shut down the pipeline. The shutdown created widespread fuel shortages in 11 states and Washington, D.C. All pointing to the true vulnerability of our companies and the detrimental effects of being complacent.
Complacency and phishing emails that spread malware are the main reason for the success of cybercriminals and ransomware attacks.
According to a December 2020 Digital Guardian blog titled A History of Ransomware Attacks, “ransomware has been a prominent threat to enterprises, SMBs, and individuals alike since the mid-2000s.”
Separately, according to the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF), crimes such as financial fraud and identity theft are being exploited via the internet and technology through “the global cyber domain” every day.
To address this “evolving cyber challenge,” the NCIJTF released this FBI-IC3 Ransomware PDF Fact Sheet to educate the public on the ransomware threat.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) defines ransomware as; “a form of malware targeting both human and technical weaknesses in an effort to make critical data and/or systems inaccessible.
The irony to this evolving cyber challenge is that ransomware was originally intended to target individual consumers. Consumers are low stake opportunities but are still targets.
Instead, cybercriminals have taken ransomware to a more lucrative level by targeting higher-stakes opportunities such as:
- healthcare (hospitals, medical groups, and dental groups),
- professional services (law firms, accounting firms, and consulting firms),
- education (high schools, community colleges, and colleges),
- government agencies (law enforcement, city, and federal agencies).
In addition, digital money or cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are now targets. Cryptocurrencies are difficult to trace and can be transferred electronically without financial institutions that are regulated by governments. This fact has made ransomware more profitable than stealing data and selling it on the Dark Web.
What to do about it.
Consumers and employees – especially small business employees – should receive security training on a regular basis. Education about the latest security threats via online education and phishing simulation tests can dramatically reduce the threat.
The reality is that cybercriminals depend on the phrase “breach fatigue” and for consumers and employees to be complacent and careless about cybersecurity.
Two good examples of email security threats that consumers and employees need to be aware of are (1) spoofing and phishing and (2) Business Email Compromise.
To conclude, the potential for cybercriminals to shut down your home computer, the company you work for, or critical infrastructures such as gas pipelines, electric grids, and water supplies; along with mass transportation, railways, bridges, tunnels, and even airlines – should be enough motivation for consumers and employees to NOT be complacent. Because… Complacency makes hackers successful!
By Mark Pribish
Vice President and ID Theft Practice Leader
by Brian Thompson | May 17, 2021 | General, Identity Theft, Uncategorized
Most of you have heard of it, but what is a credit score?
The most widely used scoring model in the United States and Canada is the FICO credit score. Developed in 1956 by a company called Fair, Isaac & Company (FICO), this model is designed to determine how likely you are to become 90 days late on any payment within the next twenty-four months. The model calculates the probability of loan delinquency. It does so by comparing patterns in your credit history against the patterns of millions of other consumers.
FICO makes all these comparisons with software that uses complex equations and advanced analytics. The comparison evaluates all the data in your credit report and distills it into a standardized, three-digit score.
But, let’s back up a minute. Where does all the credit report data come from?
Each financial choice you make – how much you spend on credit, how responsibly you pay down your debts, how many credit-related accounts you have, etc. – gets reported to three credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. When a lender orders a copy of your credit report, they also usually request the accompanying FICO credit score. The report boils everything down into a single score based on that agency’s proprietary version of the FICO scoring model.
It’s important to note that while FICO works with the credit agencies, they do not control the information in your credit reports. Fico translates the data provided and returns a standardized score. So, to summarize:
- You make financial choices.
- The lending entities you interact with (banks, retailers, etc.) report your choices to the three credit reporting agencies.
- The agencies use the FICO software to turn your data into a single credit score, which is then delivered to the lender reviewing your application for credit.
It may seem like there are a lot of moving parts, but because the choices you make drive the entire process, ultimately you’re the one in control. In fact, statistics show that, given thirty days, over 80% of loan applicants have the potential to improve credit scores.
by Brian Thompson | May 6, 2021 | Breach, Identity Theft
Each year your businesses struggle with rising cases of identity theft and it’s affecting everything. ID Theft can be detrimental to your employees, productivity, your reputation, revenue, and profit.
You take all the necessary measures to secure your systems and prevent data breach incidents. But what about personal data stolen from elsewhere? Is your company being defrauded by that data? What can you do to prevent identity fraud despite business efforts to protect their information assets?
What is happening?
Insider solo hackers and criminal gangs steal millions of consumer records each year from companies around the globe. Bad actors take advantage of weaknesses in the system security and operations. The stolen information is traded on the dark web and used by identity thieves around the world to quickly defraud businesses, governments, and individuals.
They, under someone else’s name:
- open new credit lines
- empty bank accounts
- seek expensive medical services
- receive government assistance
- buy merchandise or services
- and collect tax refunds
Identity theft may make your company vulnerable, regardless of how or where the consumer information is obtained. However, you have the option to mitigate identity theft and reduce fraud losses by implementing an effective identity theft program that incorporates training for your employees, management teams, board members, and customers to collectively prevent identity fraud.
What can you do?
You can implement an employee identity theft protection program with defend-id. defend-id has developed integrated resources to help businesses mitigate the risks of identity theft with our employee identity monitoring tools. defend-id will insure against identity fraud and provide full-service recovery for your employees when it does happen.
Can your organization protect against identity theft and keep employees, shareholders, customers, and auditors happy?
You don’t have to be one of the businesses that struggle with rising cases of identity theft. Contact defend-id or your benefits agent today to inquire about a program for your business today. www.defend-id.com
by Brian Thompson | Apr 29, 2021 | Identity Theft, Uncategorized
In August 2014, I wrote an article for the Arizona Republic titled Synthetic Identity Fraud Emerges As Growing Threat. In the article, I pointed to the fact that synthetic ID Theft & Fraud is getting worse. Stating that “synthetic identity theft and fraud often include a combination of fake and real credentials using names, Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses, and employee identification numbers to create new ‘synthetic’ or fake identities.”
This Forbes article includes a brief summary of synthetic identity theft and fraud and made me think of how both small businesses and consumers need to increase their knowledge and awareness of their digital risk.
Think about it, both consumers and small businesses have entered the digital world where we are all at risk. Examples of digital risk include a phishing attack; a hacking attack; or when your personal privacy or data privacy is exposed; or when your cloud computing or cloud storage vendor is hacked.
And to be clear – digital services such as the internet, website marketing, Apple and Google apps, and more, make it possible for small businesses to deliver more new products and services. These same digital services also create more satisfying customer experiences.
However, with these great new digital services comes risk – or should I say “digital risk”. As I mentioned above, digital risk means unwanted and often unexpected outcomes. Outcomes that stem from digital business processes and digital consumer services.
So what does all this mean?
First, there was a significant increase in the number of identity theft cases in 2020. These cases are mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic with employees working from home and students studying remotely.
Second, as businesses and consumers try to mitigate their exposure to data breaches and identity theft, cybersecurity experts anticipate another significant increase in identity theft and fraud in 2021.
One of those expected trends and contributing factors in cybercrime in 2021 will be the use of synthetic identity theft and fraud.
With synthetic identity theft and fraud helping in the authentication of an unauthorized individual by combining real and fake information, ID theft criminals are creating a completely new identity that looks so real – both businesses and consumers cannot tell the difference.
So what can be done? Cybersecurity experts are working on new technologies where financial companies can know verify consumers’ identity securely.
In addition, small businesses and consumers can help manage their digital risk by:
- Using stronger passwords and passphrases
- Implementing two-factor authentication to minimize the risk of identity theft and unauthorized login.
By Mark Pribish
Vice President and ID Theft Practice Leader
April 2021
by Brian Thompson | Apr 1, 2021 | Uncategorized
Last November I wrote an article titled The Cyber Threat Landscape Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better.
I wrote that article based on how information security and governance experts were alarmed at a “broken cyber market” and how cybersecurity professionals believed they were “outnumbered by cybercriminals” as attacks surged during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Well, just four months later I am writing the second part of my November article titled The Cyber Threat Landscape Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better: Part 2.
I am writing this month’s article based on the following news headlines from just the last two weeks:
Just when you think the cyber threat landscape cannot get any worse – CNA, the seventh-largest commercial insurance company in the world – and one of the leading cyber liability insurance underwriters, experienced a ransomware attack that forced the company to disconnect its systems, shut down its website, and adversely affected its corporate email.
How does this happen to one of the largest insurance companies in the world with more financial and information technology resources than most companies?
Unfortunately, this cyber-attack may have allowed cybercriminals to gain access to the cyber insurance policyholder’s confidential and detailed information.
This type of information could help a cybercriminal be more successful in determining a ransomware price that reflects the cyber coverage. This type of information could also help cybercriminals with targeted phishing emails.
As most of my readers know, targeted phishing threats are an elevated form of phishing virus attacks that use social engineering to get a specific person – in this case a CNA policyholder – to reveal sensitive and confidential information.
But it gets worse, as Javelin Strategy & Research released its annual identity fraud study and reported that “while total combined fraud losses climbed to $56 billion in 2020, identity fraud scams accounted for $43 billion of that cost” compared to the average annual fraud loss of $13 billion to $16 billion.
And it gets worse again with the unemployment benefits fraud debacle costing nearly $300 Billion because states were unprepared for the wave of applications resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lastly, and yes, it continues to get worse, as the FBI released its annual report on cybercrime affecting victims in the U.S., reporting on a record number of complaints and financial losses totaling over $4.2 billion to cybercrime in 2020.
To conclude and this is a hunch, I believe The Cyber Threat Landscape Will Get Worse before it gets better.
By Mark Pribish
Vice President and ID Theft Practice Leader
