Modern Day Pirates

While sailing around this weekend, 

I had the chance to think about all of the terrible things that have been happening in my industry based around security. I believe in my future articles, I will be referring to cyber criminals as Modern Day Pirates. The main difference between pirates of old is that the modern day pirates can invade anywhere (not just at sea) and anytime. Given the connected world we are never completely safe. Training users and 2FA is never more important that ever.

What motivates Cyber Criminals?

• Politically motivated cyber criminals include members of extremist and radical groups at both ends of the political spectrum who use the Internet to spread propaganda, attack the Web sites and networks of their political enemies, steal money to fund their militant activities, or plan and coordinate their “real-world” crimes.
• Crimes a cybercriminal may be involved in can include hacking, identity theft, online scams and fraud, creating and disseminating malware, or attacks on computer systems and sites.
• Financial gain is a motivator for most humans.
• Revenge like from a disgruntled former or current employee.
• Altruistic intentions; meaning “I will save the world from people who hurt dogs by hacking their systems.”
• Personal glory motives can be from someone who thinks Walmart is bad and needs to be put out of business
• Business espionage has always been a motivator, especially in the cyber world.

Protect your systems

There are many types of protection for business systems. We use a more enhanced approach and have cybersecurity as part of our daily cadence.

Minimum Standards include: Managed Endpoint Detection and Response with 24×7 Security Operations Center (SOC) Monitoring, Multi-Factor Authentication, Cloud-Based Advanced Email Security, Virtual Private Networks, CyberSecurity Training, Network Monitoring, Firewall Monitoring, Automated Patch Management, Access to Professional Staff.

There is always more one can do to protect your systems, but we have to weigh the monetary cost versus the likelihood versus the barrier to productivity. We follow some very good guidelines for Cybersecurity and are always looking to improve as criminals evolve.

created by Jeff King (Linkedin – Jeff King)