$1 billion attack heralds new era of cyber risk

In what is being called the Ocean’s Eleven of cyber crime, a syndicate of international hackers have stolen over an estimated US$1 billion from more than 100 banks across the world.

The sophisticated attack has been running for over two years, and poses a continued threat for the financial services industry, and is said to usher in a “new and disturbing trend” in cyber crime and risk.

Kaspersky Lab, a global cyber security firm, detected the hack and produced a detailed report on the cyber activity of the hackers.

In a report produced by the company, they noted that while cyber attacks on banks are nothing new, they are “almost always” directed at customers, such as credit card fraud, never the institutions themselves.

“This time attackers are targeting financial entities directly in an unprecedented, determined, highly professional and coordinated attack, and using any means from the target to cash as much money out as possible, up to an apparently auto-imposed limit.”

Between one and nine IP addresses were attacked by the hackers in Australia, according to the detailed the report.

Emma Osgood, senior underwriter of financial lines with AIG Australia said the latest attacks serve as another reminder that cyber risk is real and it is here to stay.

“I think this serves to reinforce the fact that cyber risk is not going away any time soon and businesses need to turn their minds towards managing this exposure.

“As Insurers, this creates opportunities but we need to ensure our offering is kept relevant in light of the ever evolving threat landscape."

Losses per attacked bank “range from $2.5 million to approximately $10 million.,” according to the Kaspersky Lab report which noted that “total financial losses could be as a high as $1 billion, making this by far the most successful criminal cyber campaign we have ever seen.”

The group would access bank networks with their software and wait for four months at a time until they could learn the bank transfer system and then transfer money to their own accounts without arousing suspicion.

The state-of-the-art attacks also incorporated a method of hacking into an ATM so it dispenses money at a certain time voluntarily, allowing the hackers to simply stand at the ATM and wait.

The report stresses that this threat has not yet been dealt with and the attackers, thought to be based in China, Russia and across Europe, are looking for more victims.

“Telemetry indicates that the attackers are expanding operations to other regions, such as Asia, the Middle-East, Africa and Europe.”

Article Extracted from IBO 2015.02.19 

Smart cars a new target for hackers

Article Extracted from Insurance & Risk 2015.02.09 

Fully autonomous self-driving cars are predicted to be in showrooms in just a few years but many models are already so high-tech they are vulnerable to attack by hackers.

A new report from Zurich has highlighted concerns that the increasing level of technology in modern cars – such as automatic parking, collision avoidance and smartphone integration – meant they were increasingly vulnerable.

Various researchers have shown that it is possible to take physical control of some models of vehicle with nothing more than a laptop and a wifi connection.

“Fortunately, at this point in time, only a few cybercriminals are skilled enough to hijack a vehicle using only a laptop,” the report states. “However, as automobiles become more thoroughly wired into the ‘Internet of Things’, it will become increasingly simple for criminals to wreak havoc on the roadways.”

Last year, the Guardian obtained an FBI report that found the US law enforcement agency was worried that driverless technology could prove advantageous to criminals and terrorists in less high-tech ways.

Among the scenarios canvassed were the prospect of getaway car drivers having free reign to open fire on pursuers, as well as cars loaded with explosives being programmed to drive at high speed into a specific location.

“The rate of change in automobile-based information, entertainment, communication and computer-enabled safety technologies means that exposures and risks are multiplying faster than the risks can be fully analysed and quantified,” the report states.

“Risk managers and underwriters will continue to be challenged to respond with creative solutions to this complex and constantly shifting risk landscape.”

To download the report, click here.

Cyber attacks are costing Aussie Business millions

The Cyber attacks are costing Australian companies an average of $2.6 million according to new research from the Ponemon Institute.

The 2014 Cost of Data Breach Study: Australia, sponsored by IBM, details the affects of data breach on Australian firms and, for the first time, aims to predict the likelihood of a company suffering a breach in the next two years.

Results are taken from costs incurred by 22 Australian companies across 11 different sectors following more than 10 months of work and 170 individual interviews with company members.

The cost of the data breaches continues to rise as the report found that for the fifth consecutive year, the cost per lost or stolen record increased by $4 – from $141 per record to $145 – which led to an increase in average cost from $2.72 million in 2013 to $2.8 million.

The report noted the likelihood of each industry suffering a data breach and found that retail and financial services companies are most at-risk.

“Specifically Australian companies in retail and financial services are far more likely to have a breach. In contrast, energy and transportation are least likely to have a breach. In all cases, it is more likely a company will have a breach involving 10,000 or fewer records than a mega breach involving more than 100,000 records.”

Consumers will be abandoning companies following a data breach in record levels with average churn rates increased by 5%.

“Certain industries, such as financial and service companies are more susceptible to high customer churn, which causes their data breach costs to be higher than other industries. Taking steps to keep customers loyal and repair any damage to reputation and brand can help reduce the cost of a data breach,” the report said.

This led to a new high in terms of lost business costs per breach as they rose from $740,000 to $880,000 in 2014. These costs come from customer turn-over, reputational losses and diminished goodwill.

The report highlights the need for effective planning for cyber crime attacks as it notes that organisational factors such as a strong security posture, an incident response plan and business continuity management can have a marked effect on costs incurred by the company.

The insurance Industry has produced a specific policy to help manage and protect assets. One of the Insurance Broker officers in Perth that can assist is the team at Central Insurance Brokers, 

Find out more about Account Managers at Central