The fight to stop ‘cybergeddon’!

‘Cybergeddon!’…The spectre of digital crime looms larger than ever and is already costing businesses hundreds of billions each year.

The government has identified cyber attacks as one of the main threats to national security.  With ever more sophisticated scams and the fear that insiders pose a real danger, firms are being warned to take action to protect themselves.

The following is an extract from the article written by Adam Jupp – Business Editor of the M.E.N

‘Bury-based CYFOR started out providing forensic services for police forces investigating offences ranging from white collar fraud to the distribution of indecent images.  But it has seen a huge growth in business from companies taking legal action against employees accused of mishandling data and firms trying to establish the extent of damage done after a breach. It is also offering clients a forensic readiness planning service, which advises how best to preserve virtual crime scenes once security breaches have occurred, in order to minimise loss and apprehend those responsible.

Founder and chief executive Joel Tobias says:

“These are the kind of issues we are dealing with more and more. One example is a recent case that came in through our emergency phone line, where a client had a laptop stolen, which was later recovered.  It contained a lot of sensitive customer information and they needed to know whether that data had been viewed or removed
because the matter had to be disclosed to the regulatory authorities.

“Because of the work we did, they were able to demonstrate that while the laptop had been lost, the data hadn’t been accessed and when you’re talking about the penalties that could be imposed on firms, that makes a huge difference.”

Another of CYFOR’s success stories saw a gang of Virgin Media employees convicted of tampering with set-top boxes and selling them to customers who were then able to watch premium TV channels for free.  By examining internal computer networks, investigators could identify who the fraudsters were and bring them to justice.

The message from the experts is clear – the threat of cyber crime is already a virtual reality and ignoring it could have extremely costly consequences for your business.’

Follow the link to read the whole article – The fight to stop cybergeddon