What Motivates Cyber Criminals?

It is clear that most hackers are driven by financial gain. However, recent reports have revealed some contrasting findings in terms of how ‘big’ a gain they are either chasing or able to secure.

According to ‘Flipping the Economics of Attacks’ by Palo Alto Networks and the Ponemon Institute 67% of UK hackers admitted that money is their main incentive for their criminality, although the same research revealed that the average UK cyber-criminal makes just over £20,000 per year (an average of £8600 per attack). These are not excessive amounts of money and are lower than expected, especially when you consider a cybersecurity professional can earn up to four-times that much. This suggests that cyber-hackers are more likely to focus their efforts on quick, easy targets with realistic financial payouts.

After all, more than half (54%) of UK respondents said that it takes less than 24 hours for an experienced criminal to plan and carry-out an attack against an organization with a ‘typical’ IT security structure, with 60% admitting that if the time it takes to perform an attack were to increase by less than two days (40 hours), they would be deterred and move onto another target. Here are our first clues into how hackers work: they are opportunists who like to act quickly to target organizations with weak IT security infrastructures.

The Financial Times reporting a recent upsurge in the number of cyber-attacks carried out against the very wealthy and those who manage their own finances. According to the report, security group Kroll discovered hackers are using networking sites such as LinkedIn to search and identify people with significantly well-paid jobs and then targeting them with malicious attacks to trick them into transferring money.

This suggests a shift in technique, with hackers abandoning traditional mass-phishing exercises and focusing on specific targets. A possible reason for this is that it is becoming more common for people, especially pensioners, to have full access to their finances.

David Flower, MD EMEA, Carbon Black, told Infosecurity:
“It’s fair to say that both high net worth individuals and those that manage their wealth are at a significant risk from hackers. The individuals themselves will always represent an attractive target, particularly for phishing attacks on their endpoints. If a hacker gains access, they could find themselves with a wealth of blackmail material, or information that could let them gain access to funds, so they will always be an attractive and potentially weaker target – particularly if they hit their home server or desktop.”

Kroll investigated attacks that ranged in value from a few thousand pounds to multimillion-pound scams, with cyber-crime estimated to have cost the national economy in excess of £30 billion, figures that significantly contrast those put forward in ‘Flipping the Economics of Attacks’. So, here we have another insight into the minds of cyber-criminals which suggests that far from being satisfied with targeting simple IT infrastructures for small, quick profits many do harbor a desire to secure the elusive ‘big pay out’.
 
Whilst Flower agrees that the very wealthy are a key target for cyber-criminals, he also comments on risks surrounding the wider sphere of financial influence, explaining that brokers, financial advisors, and even personal assistants are also potential targets.

He says:
“By targeting non-executive staff within the wealth chain, whether a broker, or admin assistant, with a malicious email or similar, cyber-criminals can potentially gain access to a server and by extension, millions of pounds worth of financial data.”

One thing that both reports do is to highlight two specific targets that hackers seem to be focusing on.

Firstly, findings from ‘Flipping the Economics of Attacks’ clearly show that because cyber-criminals are so concerned with how long an attack takes to carry-out, organizations whose security infrastructure is deemed to be ‘less mature’ are at greater risk as they can be breached quicker. In contrast, companies that take active steps to share threat intelligence with peers, adopt a prevention-first approach and invest in appropriate technologies that slow the progress of cyber-breaches are far more likely to avoid becoming victims of an attack.

Moving on to the article by the Financial Times, we can also see that hackers are using inventive techniques to pinpoint wealthy individuals, often cloning their email addresses and fraudulently instructing for money to be moved from one account to another. Therefore, people working within board-level roles should be mindful of the amount of information they share on sites like LinkedIn.

Whatever their motivation, cyber-hackers are becoming more sophisticated in their techniques and the prevalence of attacks appears to be on the rise.
 
Flower added:
“It is safe to say that this is a battle that isn’t going to be won any time soon but if cyber-criminals are able to exploit human vulnerabilities for ‘quick wins’, IT needs to step in and provide safeguards that allow for human weakness.”

InforSecurity: http://bit.ly/20QaVy2

« The Blockchain Will Change The Property Business
Barely A Third of Energy Companies Track Cyber Threats »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

The PC Support Group

The PC Support Group

A partnership with The PC Support Group delivers improved productivity, reduced costs and protects your business through exceptional IT, telecoms and cybersecurity services.

Perimeter 81 / How to Select the Right ZTNA Solution

Perimeter 81 / How to Select the Right ZTNA Solution

Gartner insights into How to Select the Right ZTNA offering. Download this FREE report for a limited time only.

NordLayer

NordLayer

NordLayer is an adaptive network access security solution for modern businesses — from the world’s most trusted cybersecurity brand, Nord Security. 

Resecurity, Inc.

Resecurity, Inc.

Resecurity is a cybersecurity company that delivers a unified platform for endpoint protection, risk management, and cyber threat intelligence.

Authentic8

Authentic8

Authentic8 transforms how organizations secure and control the use of the web with Silo, its patented cloud browser.

Galaxkey

Galaxkey

Galaxkey is a data protection product that protects email, documents and any data using access control and an encryption platform.

ZeroFox

ZeroFox

ZeroFox safeguards modern organizations from dynamic security risks across social, mobile, surface, deep and dark web, email and collaboration platforms.

Siscon

Siscon

Siscon delivers tailor-made compliance solutions that are based on the customer's specific wishes and reality and then supplement with many years of experience in the field.

Japan Information Security Audit Association (JASA)

Japan Information Security Audit Association (JASA)

JASA is non-profit association active in developing and managing the quality of Information Security Auditing and Auditors in Japan.

NowSecure

NowSecure

NowSecure are the experts in mobile app security testing software and services.

SentryBay

SentryBay

SentryBay is a real-time data security company developing technology for PC, mobile, the cloud and IoT.

Gemserv

Gemserv

Gemserv is a specialist market design, governance and assurance services consultancy.

HorizonIQ

HorizonIQ

HorizonIQ (formerly Internap Corp / INAP) maximizes efficiency and innovation with flexible infrastructure solutions.

EVOLEO Technologies

EVOLEO Technologies

EVOLEO provides engineering services covering a wide range of needs in the electronics design, embedded and systems engineering.

Octiga

Octiga

Octiga is an office 365 cloud security provider. It offers Office 365 monitoring, incident response and recovery tools.

Keysight Technologies

Keysight Technologies

Keysight is dedicated to providing tomorrow’s test technologies today, enabling our customers to connect and secure the world with their innovations.

Cyber Defense Networking Solutions (CDNS)

Cyber Defense Networking Solutions (CDNS)

CDNS is a global network infrastructure provider whose platforms are engineered for security, optimized for speed and designed for resiliency.

Cyber Coaching

Cyber Coaching

Cyber Coaching is a community for enhancing technical cyber skills, through unofficial certification training, cyber mentorship, and personalised occupational transition programs.

StealthPath

StealthPath

StealthPath is focused on endpoint protection, securing the “implicit trust” vulnerabilities of current leading information security solutions.

CentriVault

CentriVault

CentriVault is a leading independent provider of Cyber Security and Data protection services to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

BTQ Technologies

BTQ Technologies

BTQ is a global quantum technology company focused on securing mission critical networks.