Cybercrime: Getting Robbed Is Not What It Used To Be…



[caption id="attachment_1378" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Old Fashioned Robber"]Old Fashioned Robber[/caption]



Way back in your grand-pappy’s day (before cybercrime), a bank-robber or garden variety burglar typically committed no more than one "job" a day─ these were dangerous and time-consuming events. The bad guy had to get dressed in a clever disguise, prepare his getaway means and route, travel to the scene of the crime, do a hold-up or break-in, physically obtain and carry out the dough or the loot, and then try to get away without being caught, or shot at. None of this takes into account the subsequent need to remove serial numbers or launder money…



A life of crime, at that time, was pretty time-intensive and tiring.



But not so much anymore.



Welcome to the cybercrime era where organized crime steals more bytes of personal data than most of us can wrap our minds around.



Consider that in last April’s Sony PlayStation data heist, 77 million user names, addresses, phone numbers, passwords, purchase histories, and, in some cases, credit card histories were lifted.



“One hundred million people are becoming crime victims simultaneously,” cybercrime expert Marc Goodman told a room full of data scientists at O’Reilly’s Strata Summit in New York last week.



He estimates that organized cybercrime was a two trillion dollar industry last year. That’s more money than Google, Exxon Mobil, and Walmart earn combined, many times over.



And what do these cybercriminals do with the data they steal? They sell it to sophisticated crime syndicates who use it to make online purchases, to launder money and to make and sell illicit credit cards that work just like yours do. Not only that, but cybercriminals actually guarantee their cybercrime-born products and provide “customer support” with 800 numbers, according to Goodman.



Read the full story:  Robbery 2.0 aka Cybercrime- Getting robbed in a webbed world

KnowBe4 offers a FREE Phishing Security Test that can give you an accurate assessment of who the likely culprits are within your organization that will open the door to cybercriminals. Take this important step now while you are reading this—before your organization gets targeted. FREE PHISHING SECURITY TEST



Stu Sjouwerman



KnowBe4



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