Do you believe that data security is someone else’s problem? Do cyber threats seem distant to you? Why would a phisher be interested in your company or your employees? To change these mindsets, it is good to understand the attackers’ intentions.
Money and false information
By far, the number one motive of cybercriminals is money. Their operations have become professionalised, resembling ordinary business; amateur bullying is rare. The criminal can promise to restore the attacked service in return for a certain sum of money. The fact that this promise is often kept speaks about professionalism.
Victims can be selected entirely at random, for example through a spam campaign, or in a targeted manner, for example by sending messages in the name of the CEO to the person in charge of the company’s payment transactions. Although money is the ultimate goal of the crime, it may be implemented by using hacked work email accounts of employees not related to financial transactions at all.
Operations that serve the objectives of foreign states have become a major threat as a result of recent security policy events. The motive may be industrial espionage, but in the current situation, the objective of destabilising society is emphasised. Harassment aimed at disturbing the activities of society is encountered daily. Companies and organisations in the food sector are critical to the functioning of society and are, therefore, attractive targets for attacks.
At Mtech, we encounter attempted attacks on information systems on a daily basis. Phishing attempts are reported to our IT support at least weekly, and we process alerts generated by data security products routinely. Of course, Mtech is also prepared for threats. Data security is an essential part of our application development and maintenance. We constantly monitor the general security situation around the world.
We want to share information about what companies and their employees need to be aware of in their daily work. Tips for preparing for a cyber attack can be found in our next blog post!