Protecting Brands by Best-in-Class Cybersecurity. Growing Brands through Custom Apps, Managed IT & Cloud. Spreading Awareness as Security Keynote Speaker & Cyber Crime Junky. (c) 2022 David Mauro
Leaders are acutely aware of the dangers that cybercrime brings on a daily basis. Every time an employee logs on to the internet, a new risk emerges. Nonetheless, they are unable to function in today’s workplace without utilizing technological advancements.
This is why we exist, and why Cybersecurity Services should be included in every budget this year, next year, and beyond. If you go cheap, your brand may vanish, regardless of how much money you make or how big or little your company is.
There is no brand that is too large to fail or be destroyed by a reputation-damaging breach. Similarly, no brand is too insignificant to be disregarded. SMBs are a prime target because they frequently lack basic security that can resist most attacks.
After all, this is a risk management situation. The risk will always exist, but leadership understands how to manage it and take tangible efforts to mitigate it.
And if they aren’t aware of it, or if they don’t care and fund it, we will eventually see them in the headlines when their doors slowly close. While harsh, it is reality. As a successful leader, adapting to change, growing and managing risk are essential elements of Grit and strong leadership.
UNDERSTANDING HACKERS
Once used to think of a hacker as a person living on the fringes of society or some kid in their parent’s basement, drinking Red Bull all night cracking code. Those skillsets are hard to come by and are very rare (and in demand globally).
Something else has changed. Around 10-12 years ago there was a silent dynamic shift in the way people took advantage of innocent organizations online. Hackers, and when we use that term “Hacker” we really mean black-hat hackers (those with incredible skills but with malicious intent), got organized.
Reviewing the history of data breaches one sees a dramatic increase in the size, scope, targets and frequency of news-making data breaches right around this time of 10 years ago. Frequency is the key metric that stands out above all.
CRIME GOT ORGANIZED
Around that time, hackers began individually and then collectively, getting Organized. And the market also became flooded.
This is due in large part to one simple facet most do not write about: there are far more criminals with bad intent in the world than people with technical skills.
Think Don Corleon and the GodFather saga in terms of getting “organized”. That is when they started to productize their malicious code into “packages for sale” on the Dark Web. They also started to form, more so than ever before, into groups, creating distribution channels, marketing, operations and segmenting roles.
The results were an overwhelming success-for crime.
How so? There is great leverage a criminal team or organization can place on any single individual target (i.e. YOU and YOUR ORGANIZATION and it’s BRAND) when they band together and share resources, skillsets, technical and financial platforms and backing. Their combined skillset dwarfs those of even the most well-funded companies and government agencies.
CYBERCRIME REVENUES FAR EXCEED THE INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRADE
In fact, in recent years global enforcement reports show that Cybercrime revenues far exceeded the international Drug Trade. Think of the drug lords like Pablo Escobar and Griselda “Black Widow” Blanco, who generated billions in illegal drug smuggling and production. Turning away from the millions of lives they devasted, consider the revenues they generated from a pure monetary standpoint.
The FBI considers Cybercrime to be at epidemic levels today. In part because of the funding cybercrime has today and also in part to various factors like insider threats and the way in which Malware-as-a-service rapidly grew.
FINANCING CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE
From nation-state actors to well-funded organized crime groups with names like REvil, Cobalt, Lazarus, MageCart, DarkSide, Clop, and more, the funding and resources they throw at launching campaigns and attacking your organization would boggle the mind.
In fact, it exceeds the funds generated by some of our most-recognized tech giant brands.
Research from Atlas VPN found that cybercriminals’ net proceeds exceed $3.5 Trillion outpacing tech giants.
Cybercrime pays-at least for now. We exist to help stem that tide. Compare the money made by cybercriminals to tech giants and we see how powerful those organizations are. Cybercrime is even more lucrative than the very technology they use to commit the acts.
Taking a recent financial year: revenues from Amazon, Facebook, Tesla, Microsoft and Apple brought in only a total of $1 Trillion compared to cybercrime which came it at above $3 Trillion that same year.
And that is only what journalists and law enforcement “know” about. Criminals, after all, do not openly publicize their revenue, follow rules nor file taxes.
SET CYBERSECURITY PRIORITIES – ASK FOR HELP
Cybersecurity is not the responsibility of the CIO. It’s the responsibility of the C-Suite. Tope leadership own, founded or manage the brand. When a breach destroys the trust customers have in the organization then the brand is irreparably harmed. That accountability does not solely fall into the lap of the top tech person. Sure they may have the team to manage systems and infrastructure but it’s the executive leaders who set funding, prioities and place security top of mind into the culture.
Those who run the culture of an organization actually own the responsibility for cybersecurity.
If you don’t know what steps to take, or which priorities to set this year, then simply get help. Contact your IT advisor or get an independent holistic perspective on your state of risk from our team at All Covered-Konica Minolta, a Top 10 rated Cybersecurity Firm globally, located right here in the US.
David Mauro
Regional Manager
All Covered, IT Services from Konica Minolta Business Solutions, US
Contact David Mauro and the All Covered Team to learn more. @dmauro@allcovered.com
