[caption id="attachment_1357" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Cybercrime Losses"]
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U.S. government agencies are getting better at sharing information about cybercrime with private companies, but cybercrime shows no signs of slowing down, cybersecurity experts told lawmakers Wednesday.
The U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security work closely together to combat cybercrime, witnesses from the three organizations told a subcommittee of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. But criminals are taking advantage of the growing amount of personal information online and the ability to share attack tools and strategies over the Internet, said A.T. Smith, assistant director of the Secret Service.
"The Secret Service has observed a marked increase in the quality, quantity and complexity of cybercrimes targeting private industry and critical infrastructure," he said.
The FBI is currently investigating more than 400 cases involving unauthorized wire transfers from bank accounts of U.S. businesses, said Gordon Snow, the assistant director there. Those 400 cases involved the attempted theft of US$255 million, with actual losses of $85 million, and the cases involving the takeover of accounts represent just one type of attack against financial systems, he said.
Snow also listed recent examples of payment processor breaches, stock trading fraud, ATM skimming, mobile banking attacks and other schemes targeting the U.S. financial system. Cybercriminals' capabilities are at "an all-time high," although combating cybercrime is a top priority for the FBI and other agencies, he said.
The annual cost of cybercrime is about $388 billion, including money and time lost, said Brian Tillett, chief security strategist at Symantec. That's about $100 billion more than the global black market trade in heroin, cocaine and marijuana combined, he said.
For more on this story click here: US Agencies Making Progress on Cybercrime
The most basic and essential step any organization can take to increase cyber security is implement a program of Internet Security Awareness Training. For more information on this type of training visit www.knowbe4.com and try our free phishing security test to see how phish-prone your employees areits a great way to assess the security savvy of your employees.
Stu Sjouwerman
KnowBe4
[/caption]U.S. government agencies are getting better at sharing information about cybercrime with private companies, but cybercrime shows no signs of slowing down, cybersecurity experts told lawmakers Wednesday.
The U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security work closely together to combat cybercrime, witnesses from the three organizations told a subcommittee of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. But criminals are taking advantage of the growing amount of personal information online and the ability to share attack tools and strategies over the Internet, said A.T. Smith, assistant director of the Secret Service.
"The Secret Service has observed a marked increase in the quality, quantity and complexity of cybercrimes targeting private industry and critical infrastructure," he said.
The FBI is currently investigating more than 400 cases involving unauthorized wire transfers from bank accounts of U.S. businesses, said Gordon Snow, the assistant director there. Those 400 cases involved the attempted theft of US$255 million, with actual losses of $85 million, and the cases involving the takeover of accounts represent just one type of attack against financial systems, he said.
Snow also listed recent examples of payment processor breaches, stock trading fraud, ATM skimming, mobile banking attacks and other schemes targeting the U.S. financial system. Cybercriminals' capabilities are at "an all-time high," although combating cybercrime is a top priority for the FBI and other agencies, he said.
The annual cost of cybercrime is about $388 billion, including money and time lost, said Brian Tillett, chief security strategist at Symantec. That's about $100 billion more than the global black market trade in heroin, cocaine and marijuana combined, he said.
For more on this story click here: US Agencies Making Progress on Cybercrime
The most basic and essential step any organization can take to increase cyber security is implement a program of Internet Security Awareness Training. For more information on this type of training visit www.knowbe4.com and try our free phishing security test to see how phish-prone your employees areits a great way to assess the security savvy of your employees.
Stu Sjouwerman
KnowBe4
