Cybercriminals: Scarier, More Organized than Ever

By The DynaSis Team

In late 2013, Internet security firm Fireeye discovered that a string of sophisticated, seemingly unrelated malware attacks had all been built on a common infrastructure of malicious services and applications. After further research, Fireeye concluded that multiple criminal entities and operations were working together, pooling and sharing resources and logistics to make it easier and more efficient to develop and launch highly sophisticated but distinctly separate attacks. A few months later, security firm McAfee announced that 20 to 30 cybercrime groups—all in the former Soviet Union — had reached "nation-state level" capability.

At the time, DynaSis reported on this trend, urging business owners to increase their security efforts. Knowing that strong cyber security is beyond the technical capability of virtually all small and midsized businesses (SMBs) we recommended that SMBs work with security-focused IT consultants or IT services firms to achieve better protection.

Fast forward to 2016, and the situation has only gotten worse. In fact, the continued evolution of the Deep Web, (also called the Dark Web)—a “hidden” Internet where illegal activities flourish—is accelerating the threat.  According to an Infosec Institute report, security firm TrendMicro’s analysis of the Deep Web identified major cybercriminal ecosystems operating in Germany, Russia, Japan, China, the United States, Canada and Brazil.

News headlines about Russian and Chinese cybercrime organizations are fairly common. However, the media report less frequently about the U.S. cybercrime ecosystem, which Tom Kellermann, chief cybersecurity officer at Trend Micro, characterized as, “A gun show for everyone as long as they can participate and are willing to pay.” These cybercrime groups, Kellerman noted, “primarily cater to customers within the region…most of the offerings (stolen accounts, products and services, and fake documents) are U.S. based.”

We hope that anyone reading recognizes that the threat of becoming a victim has reached epic proportions. In fact, no prudent managed IT services or IT support provider—even those that emphasize security—guarantees to completely prevent all threats from reaching corporate systems. Rather, the focus is on monitoring, detection and swift elimination.

Here at DynaSis, we have always followed security news, and we continue to enhance our own security offerings to incorporate the most modern, successful approaches. It’s a scary world out there, and it only takes one breach to bring an organization to its knees. To learn more, we invite you to download our white paper, Cyber-Security 2016, or browse our blogs and white papers at “The Latest.”

DynaSis has been Atlanta’s premier IT support services provider for more than 23 years. As an IT company working with small to midsized businesses (10 to 150+ users), DynaSis has developed a unique 12-layer approach to network threat protection, ransomware prevention and crypto virus threat elimination. The DynaSis Business Cloud functions through a highly secure environment with full real-time data backup. Please contact us at 678.218.1769 or visit our website at www.DynaSis.com.