FBI: National Cyber Security Awareness Month - Cyber Security is Everyone's Responsibility

The FBI released the below information:

Data breaches resulting in the compromise of personally identifiable information of thousands of Americans. Intrusions into financial, corporate, and government networks. Complex financial schemes committed by sophisticated cyber criminals against businesses and the public in general.

These are just a few examples of crimes perpetrated online over the past year or so, and part of the reason why Director James Comey, testifying before Congress last week, said that “the pervasiveness of the cyber threat is such that the FBI and other intelligence, military, homeland security, and law enforcement agencies across the government view cyber security and cyber attacks as a top priority.” The FBI, according to Comey, targets the most dangerous malicious cyber activity—high-level intrusions by state-sponsored hackers and global cyber syndicates, and the most prolific botnets. And in doing so, we work collaboratively with our domestic and international partners and the private sector.

But it’s important for individuals, businesses, and others to be involved in their own cyber security. And National Cyber Security Awareness Month—a Department of Homeland Security-administered campaign held every October—is perhaps the most appropriate time to reflect on the universe of cyber threats and on doing your part to secure your own devices, networks, and data.

What are some of the more prolific cyber threats we’re currently facing?

Ransomware is type of malware that infects computers and restricts users’ access to their files or threatens the permanent destruction of their information unless a ransom is paid. In addition to individual users, ransomware has infected entities such as schools, hospitals, and police departments. The actors behind these sophisticated schemes advise the users that if they pay the ransom, they will receive the private key needed to decrypt the files. Most recently, these cyber criminals—demonstrating some business savvy—give victims the option of decrypting one file for free to prove that they have the ability to restore the locked files. More on ransomware.

Business e-mail compromise, or BEC, scams continue to impact many businesses across the U.S. and abroad. BEC is a type of payment fraud that involves the compromise of legitimate business e-mail accounts—often belonging to either the chief executive officer or the chief financial officer—for the purpose of conducting unauthorized wire transfers. After compromising a company’s e-mail account—usually through social engineering or malware—the criminals are then able to send wire transfer instructions using the victim’s e-mail or a spoofed e-mail account. BEC scams have been reported in all 50 states and in 100 countries and have caused estimated losses of more than $3 billion worldwide. More on BEC scams.

Intellectual property theft involves robbing individuals or companies of their ideas, inventions, and creative expressions—often stolen when computers and networks are accessed by unscrupulous competitors, hackers, and other criminals. Intellectual property can include everything from trade secrets and proprietary products and parts to movies, music, and software. And the enforcement of laws protecting intellectual property rights (IPR)—which are critical to protecting the U.S. economy, our national security, and the health and safety of the American public—is an FBI criminal priority. The Bureau’s IPR focus is the theft of trade secrets and infringements on products that can impact consumers’ health and safety, including counterfeit aircraft, automotive, and electronic parts. More on intellectual property theft.

“The FBI is doing everything we possibly can, at every level, to make it harder for cyber criminals to operate,” says Associate Executive Assistant Director David Johnson, “and I believe many of them are now starting to think twice before they put fingers to keyboard. But we also ask that the public do its part by taking precautions and implementing safeguards to protect their own data.”

Check back on our website during the month of October for information on protecting your data and devices and on FBI efforts to combat the most egregious cyber criminals.

FBI And Secret Service Team Up To Educate Private Sector On Cyber Crime

The FBI web site offers the below piece:

“Partnership is the key to any type of [long-lasting] cyber investigation and cyber team work,” said Executive Assistant Director Robert Anderson during a joint FBI/U.S. Secret Service presentation in Washington, D.C. on October 20, 2014 before the Financial Services Roundtable (FSR), an advocacy organization for the U.S. financial services industry. The event was held as part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month."

And Anderson wasn’t just talking about our growing partnership with the Secret Service—with whom the Bureau works collaboratively on cyber crime matters. He was also referring to the importance of collaborating with private sector companies, many of whom were represented in the audience.

During the event, joint teams of FBI and Secret Service agents discussed a number of various cyber-related topics to educate and raise awareness of the cyber threat. Those topics included the extent of the problem (more than 500 million personal records stolen over the past 12 months, according to public sources), various stages of a hack (from reconnaissance efforts to the actual data theft), our outreach efforts to the private sector (e.g., InfraGard, National Cyber Forensics and Training Alliance), and Operation Clean Slate (the Bureau’s innovative and collaborative approach against the most serious botnet threats).

Also discussed were several significant cyber investigations—including operations Trident Breach, Coreflood, Ghost Click, and GameOver Zeus—that owed much of their success to the assistance provided by our private sector partners.

Other key players in these investigations—and in many of our cyber investigations overall—are our international law enforcement partners. Their support is vital because many of the cyber criminals that victimize American financial institutions, other businesses, and the American public operate outside of the U.S. Said FBI Assistant Director Joseph Demarest, Jr., “Wherever these actors sit in the world, we’re going after them.”

Demarest also warned financial industry representatives that a cyber intrusion “is going to happen” to their company at some point and he advised them to “have a plan” before it happens. That plan should include an internal response team and an already-established cyber point of contact with the U.S. government.

Note: You can read my interview with FBI Special Agent and InfraGard coorinater John Cheeson via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/11/fbis-infragard-program-teams-with-small.html