Shield your business from cybercrooks
Can you recognize a potentially disastrous breach of your computer system’s security when you see it? Let’s find out with two quick questions
First, consider this one: You receive a sternly worded email from the Better Business Bureau, saying a customer has filed a complaint against you that could result in a cancellation of your BBB rating if you don’t respond within seven days. The complaint, with an official-looking ID number, is attached. Do you click on the link?
Now the second scenario: An old friend (say, your college roommate) or a current business contact (maybe your favorite client) sends you an invitation to join his or her network on LinkedIn. You’d be delighted! But do you click on the link in the email?
What’s a Company’s Biggest Security Risk? YOU.
Employees Don’t Mean To Be The Primary Entry Point For Hackers. But They Are.
We are the weakest link. Hacking attacks against companies are growing bigger and bolder— witness a string of high-profile breaches this year at Sony Corp., Citigroup Inc. and others. But gone are the days when hackers would simply find holes in corporate networks to steal valuable data. Large companies have grown wise to the threat of hacking, and have spent the past 30 years hardening the perim- eters of their networks with upgraded technology.
KnowBe4: Using Education to Fight Cyber Crime
LockerGnome’s Chris Prillio Interviews Cybercrime Expert Stu Sjouwerman
Can the right hardware and/or software really protect your business from malicious intrusion and phishing attempts? Unfortunately, even the best programs and hardware solutions don’t safeguard you from social engineering and phishing scams. This is why KnowBe4 has created a unique and powerful training program to help educate and inform businesses (and their staff) of what to look for to avoid becoming victims of an attack.
Five Generations of Cybercrime
The Content Wrangler Interview with Cybercrime Expert Stu Sjouwerman
Stu is an IT cybercrime expert and has been professionally involved in information technology for 32 years. The last 20 years his main focus has been software for system administrators — specifically, security software. He started Sunbelt Software in 1994, and during 2005-2008 built a new antivirus product called VIPRE from scratch, integrated a firewall, and then sold the company to a large Venture Fund in Boston. His new company is called KnowBe4 and he told me about what the bad guys on the Internet have been up to recently.
Hack Attack
Gulf Coast Business Review
When technology entrepreneur Stu Sjouwerman set out on a new product mission six years ago, he mimicked the approach of a giant pharmaceutical firm. He studied the issue. He hired a team of experts. Stu Sjouwerman, a specialist in cyber security for businesses says protection against sophisticated hackers is the new frontier. He hopes to capitalize quickly on the niche.
KnowBe4 Is Making News
Cyberheist News
KnowBe4 was a big hit in Atlanta, Georgia in May at the Microsoft TechEd 2011 event, and now is making the headlines with it’s Internet Security Awareness Training for Small and Medium Enterprise. Numerous news outlets, bloggers, and others have picked up on the news. Here are just some of our favorites that give you more data about our ISAT training program:
- blogs.davincivirtual.com
- www.newsjunkyjournal.com
- twitter.com/#!/CarlWebster
- www.techjournalsouth.com
- mobile.darkreading.com
- securitycamerashop.net
- www.heraldonline.com/
- www.7thspace.com
- www.iframer.co.cc
- investing.businessweek.com
- www.streetinsider.com
- www.ereadersguide.info
- www.newtechbooks.posterous.com
- www.thestreet.com
- Cybercrime Statistics Expose Five Industries Most Susceptible to Phishing Attacks (PDF)
Cybercrime Statistics Expose Five Industries Most Susceptible to Phishing Attacks
Reuters News
Internet Security Awareness Training (ISAT) firm KnowBe4 has released new cybercrime statistics that identify the nation’s most Phish-prone™ industry sectors, which are those most susceptible to cybercrime ploys. The top five industries vulnerable to cybercrime include travel, education, financial services, government services and IT services. These findings are based on a recent phishing experiment KnowBe4 conducted among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) featured in the latest Inc. 500 and Inc. 5000 listings.
Using the Inc.com website to obtain domain names and a free data-gathering service to find publicly available email addresses, KnowBe4 sent out a simulated phishing email to employees at more than 3,500 companies. Individuals who clicked the link were directed to a landing page that informed them they had just taken part in phishing research. The emails were successfully delivered to about 29,000 recipients at 3,037 businesses; and in nearly 500 of those companies, one or more employees clicked the link. Because of the potential for Internet security breaches among these businesses, KnowBe4 dubbed them the FAIL500.
“Any business that provides access to email or access to its networks via the Internet is only as safe from cybercrime to the degree that its employees are trained to avoid phishing emails and other cyberheist schemes. The more employees within an organization that use email or go online, the greater the risk of exposure to cybercrime,” said KnowBe4 founder and CEO Stu Sjouwerman (pronounced “shower-man”).
KnowBe4 conducted a comprehensive data analysis of its FAIL500 study results, which included categorizing the companies into 25 industry sectors. The findings revealed that some industries are particularly vulnerable to cybercrime. Based on the percentage of companies in each sector that responded to the phishing email, the most Phish-prone industries are:
Travel – 25%
Education – 22.92%
Financial Services – 22.69%
Government Services – 21.23%
IT Services – 20.44%
“Our cybercrime statistics should serve as a wake-up call to SMEs nationwide,” noted Sjouwerman. “Not only are these businesses at risk for financial loss through a cyberheist, but their susceptibility to phishing tactics could compromise sensitive customer data such as credit card, bank account and social security numbers.”
Sjouwerman cites a “false sense of security” as the primary reason companies are vulnerable to cybercrime. “Most people assume that antivirus software and an in-house IT team provide sufficient data security. But considering that IT is among the most Phish-prone industries, it’s clear that’s a very dangerous assumption to make.”
Cybercriminals have become very sophisticated in their tactics, and Sjouwerman notes that they often target businesses through official-looking emails that appear to be sent by government agencies, business partners or even company executives. “Many of the top Phish-prone industries are regulated and subject to compliance rules, so well-meaning employees can be tricked into clicking a link if they believe an email was sent by a government or law enforcement agency, or by someone they know and trust. And with just one click, malware can be instantly uploaded to a system – bypassing both antivirus software and IT firewalls. A cyberheist can be underway within minutes.”
According to YourMoneyIsNotSafeInTheBank.org, small-business accounts suffered more than $40 million in cybercrime losses as of 2009. The website also cites FDIC figures indicating this type of crime increased five-fold within a 12-month period, and notes that the FBI is tracking hundreds of related cases. Small and medium-sized organizations have become the primary targets of the Eastern European hacker gangs behind this frightening new crime wave. These cybercriminals tend to prey on smaller businesses and banks that lack the cyber-fraud controls many larger institutions have in place.
KnowBe4, GFI Help Clients Put Up ‘No Phishing’ Signs
Tampa Bay Business Journal – by Margie Manning
Nearly one in five of the fastest-growing Florida businesses could be “phish-prone” and subject to a potential cyber attack. That’s the finding of a research project by KnowBe4.com, a Clearwater firm launched last year by tech industry entrepreneur Stu Sjouwerman.
The company sent bogus emails – so-called “phishing” e-mails – to several Florida companies on the Inc. 5000 list, and 18 percent of the recipients clicked on links that could have infected their companies’ computers with malicious software.
Malicious software or malware is a growing threat to business because it can give third parties unauthorized access to bank accounts, corporate data and other sensitive information. There are 100,000 variants of malware coming out every day, said Alex Eckelberry, general manager of the security division of GFI Software, which provides IT security products to small and mid-sized businesses. Losses due to Internet crime topped $500 million in 2010.
Increasingly, cyberthieves have shifted their focus from physical assets to trade secrets, research and development, marketing plans and other proprietary business information, according to a study by McAfee and Science
Applications International Corp. (NYSE: SAI). Lost or breached data costs companies more than $1.2 million on average, an increase of $500,000 in three years. Protection software is vital, but the key is training employees not to fall for scams, Sjou- werman said. “You need a human firewall. Everyone in the organization needs to be alert,” he said.
Click Here To Read The Entire Article (PDF)
View Photo Gallery Of KnowBe4′s Security Response Team
Cybercrime On The Internet And How You Can Keep Your Business Safe
BayNews9 – Tampa Bay, Florida / Tampa Bay Business Journal – Margie Manning
Cybercrime Statistics Expose Five Industries Most Susceptible to Phishing Attacks Cybercrime Research Reveals Widespread Vulnerability to Phishing in Virtually All Business Sectors Nationwide, Highlighting an Urgent Need for Internet Security
CNBC News
Internet Security Awareness Training (ISAT) firm KnowBe4 has released new cybercrime statistics that identify the nation’s most Phish-prone(TM) industry sectors, which are those most susceptible to cybercrime ploys. The top five industries vulnerable to cybercrime include travel, education, financial services, government services and IT services. These findings are based on a recent phishing experiment KnowBe4 conducted among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) featured in the latest Inc. 500 and Inc. 5000 listings.
Using the Inc.com website to obtain domain names and a free data-gathering service to find publicly available email addresses, KnowBe4 sent out a simulated phishing email to employees at more than 3,500 companies. Individuals who clicked the link were directed to a landing page that informed them they had just taken part in phishing research. The emails were successfully delivered to about 29,000 recipients at 3,037 businesses; and in nearly 500 of those companies, one or more employees clicked the link. Because of the potential for Internet security breaches among these businesses, KnowBe4 dubbed them the FAIL500.
“Any business that provides access to email or access to its networks via the Internet is only as safe from cybercrime to the degree that its employees are trained to avoid phishing emails and other cyberheist schemes. The more employees within an organization that use email or go online, the greater the risk of exposure to cybercrime,” said KnowBe4 founder and CEO Stu Sjouwerman (pronounced “shower-man”).
KnowBe4 conducted a comprehensive data analysis of its FAIL500 study results, which included categorizing the companies into 25 industry sectors. The findings revealed that some industries are particularly vulnerable to cybercrime. Based on the percentage of companies in each sector that responded to the phishing email, the most Phish-prone industries are:
Travel – 25%
Education – 22.92%
Financial Services – 22.69%
Government Services – 21.23%
IT Services – 20.44%
“Our cybercrime statistics should serve as a wake-up call to SMEs nationwide,” noted Sjouwerman. “Not only are these businesses at risk for financial loss through a cyberheist, but their susceptibility to phishing tactics could compromise sensitive customer data such as credit card, bank account and social security numbers.” Sjouwerman cites a “false sense of security” as the primary reason companies are vulnerable to cybercrime. “Most people assume that antivirus software and an in-house IT team provide sufficient data security. But considering that IT is among the most Phish-prone industries, it’s clear that’s a very dangerous assumption to make.” Cybercriminals have become very sophisticated in their tactics, and Sjouwerman notes that they often target businesses through official-looking emails that appear to be sent by government agencies, business partners or even company executives. “Many of the top Phish-prone industries are regulated and subject to compliance rules, so well-meaning employees can be tricked into clicking a link if they believe an email was sent by a government or law enforcement agency, or by someone they know and trust. And with just one click, malware can be instantly uploaded to a system – bypassing both antivirus software and IT firewalls. A cyberheist can be underway within minutes.”
According to YourMoneyIsNotSafeInTheBank.org, small-business accounts suffered more than $40 million in cybercrime losses as of 2009. The website also cites FDIC figures indicating this type of crime increased five-fold within a 12-month period, and notes that the FBI is tracking hundreds of related cases. Small and medium-sized organizations have become the primary targets of the Eastern European hacker gangs behind this frightening new crime wave. These cybercriminals tend to prey on smaller businesses and banks that lack the cyber-fraud controls many larger institutions have in place.
To help SMEs combat the growing threat of cybercrime, Sjouwerman recently published his fourth book, Cyberheist: The Biggest Financial Threat Facing American Businesses Since the Meltdown of 2008. In addition to highlighting the results of the FAIL500 project, Cyberheist explores the business of cybercrime, examines a number of cybercrime cases and empowers readers with effective strategies for countering cyber attacks.
Cyberscams Proliferate In The Wake Of Bin Laden’s Death
Tampa Bay Business Journal – by Margie Manning
A slew of cyberscams have popped up in the past several days since President Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. military operation.
Malicious websites and links have been proliferating on Google Image searches, Facebook and other social media sites, according to Kaspersky Labs, an Internet security firm.
Often these links will lead consumers to websites with viruses, or forms that encourage consumers to enter personal information, which can be used to steal their identity, or for phishing scams, said a warning from the Better Business Bureau of West Florida.
It’s the latest twist on a long-running line of scams, and no surprise to Stu Sjouwerman, founder and chief executive of KnowBe4.com, a Clearwater company focused on Internet security training.
“This is normal operating procedure for the bad guys,” Sjouwerman said. “They do the same thing over and over again. Haiti, Japan, any major event and they are on it like flies. It always impacts businesses, as it’s a prime example of how social engineering works and how they make people click on links.”
KnowBe4 works with companies to warn employees about phishing scams, as I report in today’s Tampa Bay Business Journal.
The issue hits close to home for the parent company of the Business Journal, Advance Publications Inc., which also owns Condé Nast Publications. Sjouwerman recently reported on his blog that Condé Nast was the victim of a targeted phishing attack, so-called spear phishing, in which the scammer nearly made away with $8 million.
Companies could get some help from Congress on this issue. A bill aimed at improving public awareness on cyber security was introduced in the U.S. Senate. The measure would beef up reporting by several federal agencies on major cyber incidents and cybercrime.