Other Industries Should Look to Intelligence Teams in the Financial Sector for Guidance and Lessons Learned
Why do thieves rob banks? Because, that’s where the money is. Whether this question was actually asked to the infamous bank robber Willie Sutton is debatable, but it’s well documented that for centuries, thieves have targeted financial institutions.
In the digital age, where virtually all business is now conducted online, cybercriminals could be asked why they steal data, run business email compromise campaigns (BEC), and spread ransomware? To which they could just as easily answer, “because, that’s where the money is.”
Indeed, it is.
The Rise of an Industry
When businesses began their journeys into the online world, relatively few foresaw how lucrative and costly the cybercrime industry would become. Some cybercrime watchers estimate that the cybercrime industry is now worth $1.5 trillion, which is roughly equivalent to the value of Apple and Facebook combined. The FBI reports that in 2019, BEC scams cost businesses $26 billion. By some accounts, last year perpetrators used ransomware to rake in $6 billion. Following the Equifax mega breach several years ago, it became impossible to estimate how much the black market for stolen personal data grew to be worth, but we did just learn that underground criminal forums now contain as many as
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