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Tag: Phishing

Navigating the Cybersecurity Landscape: Protecting Colorado B2B Companies from Advanced Cybercrime Tactics

B2B companies and organizations in Colorado are at high risk of multiple types of cybercrime. As criminals become more advanced in their tactics, we’ll show you how to prepare by looking at some of the latest global trends like phishing and deepfakes, along with new ways to improve data security. We’ll provide insights into common types of cyber attacks that B2B companies face and practical guidance on how businesses can protect themselves from cyber threats.

READ: Protect Your Online Business — Minimizing Cybersecurity Risks in a Remote Environment

Colorado-based B2Bs are at a heightened risk of cybercrime

According to an article in The Denver Post, Colorado is in the top 10 states for losing money to internet-based crime. Business email compromise turned out to be the most costly form of cybercrime in 2020 — in Colorado as well as nationwide — which means it’s crucial that companies based in the US focus keenly on new cybercrime trends as they emerge.

Business email compromise and phishing

Looking at a study by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), Colorado businesses appear to be at particular risk of business email compromise. This is a type of phishing that involves convincing an employee with access to your budget to provide sensitive data or transfer funds. Criminals usually do this by pretending to be a boss, IT support worker or someone close to the person they’re targeting. You might note here that staff is trained in noticing phishing red flags, such as poor grammar, spelling or an unknown email address. So why is there still a problem?

Criminals have caught up and are now using AI tools to appear more like genuine people close to their victims. They can also create audio deep fakes in order to emulate the sound of someone talking in videos. The Wall Street Journal reported on one such case where a senior executive was impersonated by a criminal via a deep fake of his voice, enabling them to steal $243,000 worth of funds from a UK-based energy firm.

What’s additionally concerning is that, in a Global Cybercrime Report by SEON, data from 2022 suggested that phishing and pharming were the two most common types of cybercrime, with a victim count of 300,497 in the US alone. According to the report, Cybercrime has generally cost the eCommerce industry a staggering $41.4 billion loss, which is likely a reflection of the fact that only 34% of businesses have invested in fraud prevention technology, according to a report by Juniper. With Colorado being one of the most at-risk states, there’s a high chance you’ll be dealing with these types of cybercrime at some point. We’ll look next at some of the issues that this can cause for you – beyond financial losses.

READ: Secure Your Business in the Digital Age — Essential Data Protection Strategies

The local impact of cybercrime on Colorado Businesses

What’s the local impact of cybercrime on B2Bs? Reputation damage is probably your main concern. Investing in cybercrime prevention technology makes you more likely to preserve a good reputation with the businesses and customers you deal with. Let’s look at some of the options.

How to beat AI phishing

Firstly, let’s look at combating the rise of AI phishing. Forbes suggests that AI tools are a strong bet when looking to beat criminals at their own game. They explain that AI anti-phishing software can be trained to detect what makes a suspicious email on the basis of “email content, context, metadata and trusted behavior.” It can then advise you to block or report a sender on the basis of its decision and can potentially learn from the choices you make about different suspicious emails (such as whether you should block them or not). 

What payment security options are there?

Another key issue for both B2Cs and B2B marketplaces is payment security. If customers don’t think your payments are secure, then they are less likely to use you. Regardless of whether you’re a B2B or a B2C organization, enabling two-factor authentication can help to prevent criminals from making payments via your site.

An article by The Balance explains that you can also use end-to-end card encryption in order to protect your customer’s data from criminals during transactions. Encryption involves providing a customer’s card with a one-time code — via the Europay, Mastercard and Visa (EMV) chip in modern cards — serving as a key that can only be deciphered by the credit card processor. Once it’s deciphered, the payment is processed.

READ: How to Minimize Cybersecurity Risks and Balance Customer Friction for your Online Business

Data protection solutions

As a B2B, you’re handling large quantities of client information (or prospect client information for marketing purposes). This is often contained in databases that could be stored internally, such as on the cloud. Therefore, it’s important to make sure that a firewall protects this data. Another option is using data masking software to protect client data in a similar way to the process of encryption. You can use these tools to mask particularly sensitive information like social security numbers or bank details.

Tackling new types of cybercrime like AI phishing doesn’t have to be daunting with the right tools. Colorado is a high-risk state when it comes to online fraud, so protecting your B2B company from attacks is crucial. By adopting AI tools, establishing multi-factor security for payments and maintaining the use of firewalls, you can ultimately help strengthen your defenses.

 

Tamas Kadar 1The Co-Founder of SEON Fraud Fighters, the Hungarian startup that broke funding records, Tamas Kadar is also the founder of Central Europe’s first crypto exchange. In fact, it was serendipitous events right then that led him to start working on his own fraud prevention company, when he realized what was already on the market didn’t cover his needs. Starting with the bold idea of utilizing digital footprints and social signals to assess customers’ true intentions, SEON promises to democratize the fight against fraud. Today, the company protects 5000+ brands around the world as an industry-agnostic, fully customizable yet intuitive end-to-end fraud prevention solution that’s highly ranked in the industry.

Protect Your Online Business: Minimizing Cybersecurity Risks in a Remote Environment

Cybersecurity risks can do significant damage to your business. Not only do they risk your own time, money and information, but they can also be harmful to your customers. The Marriott breach that made international headlines several years ago compromised the personal data of hundreds of millions of people. 

Your remote business probably isn’t operating at quite such a large scale. Nevertheless, if you lose people’s private information, it will come at the cost of your clients, and your reputation. You don’t want that. 

READ: How to Minimize Cybersecurity Risks and Balance Customer Friction for Your Online Business

The remote business problem

Remote businesses are not necessarily uniquely vulnerable to cyber threats save for one factor — they do not have a brick-and-mortar location, so every action you make takes place online. This gives you more vulnerability. 

With no centralized location, you are subject to your team member’s decisions. The phrase “you’re only as good as your weakest link,” definitely applies here.

Hackers don’t need very much to get in. One mistake even from a low-ranking member of your team can be all that a bad actor needs to gain access to your entire system. Once they are in, it’s an enormous amount of trouble trying to get them out. 

Denial of service attacks

Denial of service attacks aren’t as destructive as they are disruptive. Basically, DoS attacks flood your computer system with hundreds of thousands of fake requests. While your computer is overwhelmed, it can’t function the way it is supposed to. 

Even a relatively simple denial of service attack can knock you out for several days. They also may require professional intervention. DoS mitigation companies can set you back hundreds of dollars, further increasing the damage done. 

Phishing emails

Most people think that they are above phishing emails. You know that if an African prince writes you up asking for money, you’re better off politely declining their request. But what if Amazon writes in to tell you that your preferred payment method has been declined on your Audible account? Or if Microsoft writes to let you know that they are currently processing your subscription renewal payment for $1000?

These emails look like they came from brands you use and trust. The fonts and formats are the same. The email addresses look legitimate. But they are designed to trick you into handing out sensitive information. 

In your right mind, you probably know that Microsoft doesn’t just charge people $1000 for no reason. However, when you get that message saying you’re on the hook for a huge bill, it naturally initiates a panic response. You don’t think clearly, and you make mistakes. 

READ: Prioritizing Cybersecurity When Building Your Company Website

Ransomware

Ransomware attacks hold your computer or personal information hostage in exchange for money. These attacks usually target large businesses or even countries, but private individuals and small businesses have been known to experience them as well. 

Of course, there’s no winning here. People who would break into your computer and demand money can’t be trusted to leave you alone once you pay them. It’s almost always better to repair or replace your system once it falls victim to ransomware. 

Complacency

This may sound like an “only you can prevent forest fires,” type of line, but it’s true. Complacency is the biggest threat to cybersecurity for small businesses, and even for powerful organizations and countries. Almost all of the major breaches that you hear about in the news happen because someone got careless. 

Well, ok. Not actually all of them, though. For example, I read about this thing that happened in Ireland a couple of years ago. You wouldn’t—

You must mean when Russian hackers broke into Ireland’s national health network? They locked the government out of their own computers for months and published hundreds of people’s personal data online as part of a cyber terrorism initiative. 

Yeah. Terrible stuff. But you can’t blame complacency for something that big. 

Oh no? It happened after a relatively minor-ranking government official opened the wrong email. We could go on and on naming specific examples, but you’ll find the same story playing out time after time. People let their guard down, and they forget to exercise their usual caution. It’s common, and it’s also catastrophic. 

Don’t let that happen to you. Stay on top of your cybersecurity risks to help keep your business going strong. You don’t have to be a software engineer to make sensible cyber-security choices. A little common sense can go a long way toward protecting you and your customers. 

 

Andrew Deen HeadshotAndrew Deen has been a consultant for startups in a number of industries from retail to medical devices and everything in between. He implements lean methodology and is currently writing a book about scaling up business.