Driven by Money
Organizations frequently face several key threats:
- Ransomware: Attackers encrypt files and systems with their keys, demanding payment to restore access to the data.
- Cryptocurrency Miners: Systems become infected with a stealthy mining tool that utilizes the CPU to generate cryptocurrency for the attackers.
- Business Email Compromise (BEC): Attackers hack into users’ accounts through various methods, compromising their emails. This allows them to intercept communications, such as invoices, and redirect payments to different banks or accounts.
The numerous avenues for financial gain in cybercrime continue to attract interest and participation from criminals.
Value and Power
Many aspects of IT hold value and power, including:
- Bandwidth: It can be weaponized to pressure businesses through DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks.
- Hacked Systems: Compromised systems may contain sensitive information, such as proprietary business data, online gaming assets, and private photographs, all of which can be monetized.
- Browser Hijacking: Attackers can embed themselves in browsers to intercept online banking activities.
The potential for criminals to earn substantial profits in the cyber realm is attracting an increasing number of criminal gangs and opportunists, making our lives significantly more challenging.
Threatening for Money
Another frequent tactic used by cybercriminals for profit is extortion, where they hold individuals hostage by leveraging sensitive information and demand payment for its release. Here’s a typical scenario:
- A person connects with someone online, who is actually a scam artist trying to deceive them.
- They engage in interesting conversations, forming an immediate deep bond.
- They may have video chats, but the scam artist uses recorded videos or makes excuses for not activating their microphone or webcam.
- As the relationship progresses, it may turn sexual, leading the scam artist to persuade the victim to share personal and compromising photos or videos.
- After receiving this material, the scam artist may send fake pictures of innocent people in similar situations to manipulate the victim further.
- The extortion begins, with the scam artist threatening to release the compromising material to the victim’s family, co-workers, and others unless a payment is made to their account.
Stories like these are quite common, and there are numerous scenarios and opportunities for criminals to exploit victims who use the internet without understanding the associated risks.
