We’ve all heard of cyberattacks happening, but often doubt that it could ever affect us. Most people think of cybercrime as a loner’s game, picturing some mysterious hoodie-clad individual in a dark room. What you may not know is that organized cybercrime syndicates are quite common and growing in strength. To avoid scams, phishing, and maintain data security, read more to discover how the growth of cybercrime groups should be on every business owner’s radar.
Common Hacking Scams
Hackers have literally thousands of methods for tapping into your secure data. However, there’s one approach that is far more popular than the rest: phishing. Phishing is a type of scam where the hacker pretends to be a company or person that needs the victim’s information for a purchase or subscription. It can happen over the phone, through email, or through social media. This is the most common technique for organized cybercrime because it gets the victim to hand over their information willingly, without the hacker having to decipher a way to break into accounts or networks and get it on their own.
Today, there are entire enterprise-level businesses dedicated to data theft and malware deployment. We’re talking international companies with people developing code in one place, marketing and operations in another, and call centers all over the globe. When you take a moment to think about the level of organized cybercrime has risen to, you might give your business’s security plan a second look.
Organized Cybercrime
What do these organized groups of hackers look like? Actually, a lot like your business, except they’re selling scams rather than an actual product or service. They typically set up phony websites designed to steal information, and often have a large workforce helping them.
These cybercrime businesses may have an office or remote workers. They have an entire creative team dedicated to designing scam websites, emails, and messages to make them look like legitimate companies. A separate marketing team promotes the fake business to reach unsuspecting victims just like you. They have a backend analytic team that determines which lures work the best, and how to get more targets with their next campaign.
Data support professionals sift through stolen data, and the finance department launders the revenue and pays the workers. And lastly, the management team oversees operations to ensure that everything is running smoothly and effectively.
So no, cybercrime is no longer a single hacker working from the basement of his childhood home. They’re fully-fledged operations with checks and balances to maintain operations and keep themselves from getting caught. These more sophisticated organized cybercrime companies are virtually invisible, as their success helps them keep their activities anonymous through front companies and laundered money.Â
At Wheelhouse IT, we can help your organization with all things security to ensure that you’re protected from these scams. If you’d like to talk about how to keep your business safe from international hacking organizations, give us a call today at 954.474.2204.
