The FBI has decided to take a directive shift away from counterterrorism. Now, it’s time to fight against the growing threats from cyberattacks, as a Wall Street Journal report states. How are you going to fight cybercriminals? To get answers and know more about the topic, just read below.
FBI Fighting Cybercriminals
According to Third Way, a center-left think tank in Washington, less than 1% of cyber incidents that can cause harm must be in the center of attention of law enforcement bodies. As a rule, investigations focus on much larger crimes, e.g., when countries get attacked.
According to Amy Hess, executive assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s the Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch, it’s all about the technology. As Hess notes, the future of cyber is the future of the organization.
Hess further adds that people should start thinking about how their adversaries take cyber, no matter you’re dealing with an attack of a nation-state or an individual criminal for-profit type. This is how people are increasingly doing business.
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) serves as a government repository for any type of information concerning cybercriminal activity. If you’re faced with a breach, Hess thinks the right step to take is to contact the IC3 just right off the bat. Did you know that the cost of cybercrimes reported to the FBI grew almost double digits in 2018, thus making up $2.71 billion, as the bureau’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reports?
According to the annual report by the FBI, 351.936 complaints were sent to the IC3 in 2018. This means over 900 (on average) complaints were being sent each day. However, reports have grown with years, thus reaching 17% from 2017. The crime cost accounted for 93%, from $1.4 billion in 2017.
Fight Cybercriminals
According to the IC3, the complaints were mainly about non-payment/non-delivery scams, extortion, as well as personal data breaches. The biggest financial losses came from investment scams, business email compromise, and romance or confidence fraud. As Donna Gregory, Unit Chief at IC3, mentions, anyone who uses a connected device can get victimized.
With all this being said, it’s critical for you, as a merchant, to be able to protect your business in the best possible way. All you need is to find a respectable merchant services provider like FirstAmericanMerchant.com that can help you fight cybercriminals without challenges.
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The FBI has several plans on fighting cybercriminals. One of them is to make the recruitment and retention processes better. Also, it’s important to make sure all agents are equipped with the basic knowledge of cybersecurity and are competent in it.
As Tonya Ugoretz, a career FBI Intelligence Analyst and Certified Intelligence Officer, says, they need to look at their workforce and attack this at more than one level.