Cybercrime & Fraud Risk in 2020

The first few months of 2020 has been anything but smooth for businesses across Australia and New Zealand, facing the everyday struggle of modifying business structures, adapting to remote work and staying afloat.

The dramatic change of the private and commercial landscape across the ANZ region has led to major business disruption as business leaders and IT professionals recalibrate the traditional workplace to accommodate remote working teams and a dynamic workplace. As a result, this has left many companies more vulnerable than they are aware to cyber criminals.

Cybercriminals are opportunists and, in their eyes, this is the perfect time to attack. Since early February, companies around Australia have seen a growing number of cyber-attacks related to the current crisis. At a time of major business disruption, these attacks may be easily overlooked, and the expanded attack surface of now-remote businesses is exposing major vulnerabilities.

Keeping Informed: Scams & Attacks to look out for

Phishing, Vishing and Smishing Attacks

These attacks refer to cybercrime that leverages deception through impersonation to gain confidential information such as bank details, credit cards, or other key data.  Preying on fear has been a common phishing tactic and with current circumstances there has been an alarming recent uptake of cybercriminals leveraging this to prey on fear. Vishing, a newer type of attack is a combination of “voice” and “phishing” where the cybercriminal leverages an internet telephone service (VoIP). A smishing attack on the other hand is when SMS texts are used. 

Rouge Mobile Apps

Mobile apps are a rapidly growing attack vector for spreading malware, spyware and ransomware - capable of taking over a victim’s mobile device. Be careful with what you download, and how you distribute and store confidential information when using mobile apps.

Company Social Media Attacks

Multiple social media platforms with millions of daily users creates a very attractive playing field for cybercrime. Before entering a social media-based competition or giveaway be sure to check the legitimacy of the competition and URL before giving away confidential information. If it sounds too good to be true, that might just be the case.

Virtual Meeting Bombing

Over recent months, millions of work from home employees have adapted to utilising online collaboration tools, but just how safe are they? Video calling platforms can collect a lot of data and personal information, in some cases, seeing fraudsters utilising Trojan malware to enter chats. Ensuring your business is utilising legitimate platforms to collaborate is crucial.

Mitigating Risk for Australian Enterprises 

Organisations are going through rapid digital transformations; they are exposing more and more digital channels to their network in order to meet the need for business continuity. As change is experienced, how can businesses mitigate potential security risks?

Key tips for mitigating cybersecurity risk:

• Educate employees on the types of frauds circulating
• Ensure you have the ability to identify digital fraud and cybercrime in real time.
• Put your cybersecurity plans in place now

The question is, how protected are you and your customers from cyber invasion?

This whitepaper is designed to raise awareness of cybercrime and fraud instances that we may see in Australia and New Zealand over the year and provide practical cybersecurity advice that organisations can follow to reduce the risk of a successful attack.

Find out how to get your teams on the same page with cybercrime and fraud risk with this whitepaper, A Business Leader's Guide to Mitigating Cybercrime and Fraud Risk.

RSA & Dicker Data; Fighting online cybercrime threats, today and everyday