Recently, former Pennsylvania Governor and first US Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, spoke during a Lancaster Chamber “Wake Up to the Issues” Forum about the alarming lack of urgency among our nation’s leaders when it comes to cybersecurity. Ridge, who is an established authority on cybersecurity, maintains that we are engaged in an all-out cyberwar, and because politicians are slow to act or take threats seriously, businesses and government agencies themselves are perpetually in danger of devastating attacks.
You’ve likely heard of phishing – you know, the scams where someone sends you a fake email to trick you into giving up your password or banking information. Most of us have heard about phishing many, many times. So many times, in fact, that we’re tempted to tune it out and think to ourselves, “Ha, I would never fall for one of those scams.”
Your computer is acting weird. Strange messages are popping up, everything has slowed to a crawl, and you can’t get your work done. Obviously, something is wrong. You fear your computer has a virus, but you’re not sure.
‘Tis the season… we want to be jolly, but unfortunately, hackers and scammers want to take advantage of our holiday habits. The holidays are one of the most notorious times of year for cybercrime, because hackers know that we’re spending money and we’re preoccupied. Keep your holidays merry and bright by shopping safe this holiday season. Here are a few tips you should know:
Criminals love stealing credentials, and too many people are handing them the keys to the kingdom. A recent study by Verizon showed that 91% of phishing attacks targeted the user’s credentials. Why? Because stealing your username and password is the easiest way to break in to your business data, your bank account and more.
Faced with the growing threat of hacks and data breaches, more and more businesses are looking toward cyber liability insurance to protect themselves. Being proactive about cybercrime is a good thing. Unfortunately, many cyber insurance policies have gaps in coverage that can leave your business vulnerable.
If you haven’t heard, a super-sneaky phishing attack posing as Google Docs recently rampaged among Gmail users. The cleverly disguised email only took a couple clicks (through a REAL Google site!) to access your email account and forward the phishing email to everyone in your contact list. Google reacted quickly to stop the attack, but it spread like wildfire while it was active because it was so hard to detect.
Cybercrime is one of the fastest growing threats today, resulting in staggering costs to businesses worldwide. We’ve assembled some key cybercrime statics into the infographic below. Here are a few highlights from what we found:
One click may be all it takes… You’re checking your email Monday morning, cup of coffee in hand. You mark a few to follow up, confirm a meeting for the afternoon, and then delete a couple of junk promotional emails. But then you come across one that looks important – and it’s about an overdue invoice. You click on it and open the attached document to see what the problem is. Little did you know, a malicious file that was embedded in that document is now infecting your system, spreading like wildfire across your network.
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