Enterprise Still Ignorant of Where Worst Cybercrime Threat Lies

Cybercrime has become the catchall term for any and all attacks on your computer, but not all cybercrime is created equal.

Spear Phishing, Targeted Attacks and Data Breach Trends

According to Interpol, cybercrime includes attacks intended to steal data and money, as well as the distribution of child pornography and auction fraud. However, for most of us, when we think of cybercrime, we think of the attacks on our network and computers that result in financial or identity theft. It is the type of cybercrime to which most businesses will likely fall victim.

And that type of cybercrime is on the rise, as more of our daily business is conducted via the Internet and computer networks. Today, 41^st Parameter released its Top Cyber Crime Threats Report, where a group of experts analyzed the current top trends in cybercrime. Those trends are:

1. Data Breaches
2. Malware
3. DDoS
4. Mobile
5. Organization and Industrialization of Fraud

These top trends aren’t surprising, considering they are what we hear about daily. What is interesting is which industries are being targeted in these crimes and how we have reacted to attacks. For instance, we’d expect the financial industry to be the top target in phishing attacks, but I thought it would be at a higher rate (it was 37 percent of attacks; next in line was retail and restaurants at 24 percent). But, despite the fact that we’ve all been hit with phishing attacks, we haven’t learned any lessons. The report stated:

High profile breaches have done little to change consumers’ habits and most believe there is no real harm if no payment data has been compromised. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Even an email address on its own is an extremely valuable piece of data for phishers who prey on consumers who have become accustomed to clicking links in emails.

The report also spelled out how unprepared enterprise has been for the onslaught of mobile devices and the BYOD trend. According to the report, fewer than 10 percent of businesses are totally aware of the mobile devices accessing the corporate network. No wonder BYOD is such a risk, if so few companies know who and what is on the network.

These trends are the tip of the iceberg of cybercrime, but this report does a good job spelling out just how cybercrime is infiltrating enterprise.