Every week, a businessman experiences a cyber attack; loses tens of thousands of euros / Article

Every week, at least one or even several companies in Latvia become victims of Internet fraud. The result is tens of thousands of euros spent or data lost. It is revealed by the information technology security incident prevention institution “Cert.lv”. A study by the auditing company Ernst & Young also shows that most entrepreneurs observe the attacks, but they also find that they have not taken enough care with remote work.

During a pandemic, with the intensive transition to teleworking, many companies have been working from home for a year and a half, often connecting to their workplace electronic systems from private computers and handling a wide range of transactions, both with customer data and money transfers. Such “scattered” offices have become a temptation for Internet fraudsters and thieves, and their planned gains often succeed, as entrepreneurs often rely on them not to survive cyber attacks. However, Gints Mālkalnietis, an expert of the information technology security incident prevention institution “Cert.lv”, is experiencing both.

“Every week, we are confronted with one or more companies that fall victim to the scheme. And the losses there are most often in the tens of thousands of euros. “If we have transferred money to a foreign account, the process is already much more complicated. And the remedies are even simpler, but companies do not use them in practice most often,” said Malkalnietis.

Thus, the most common and simplest form of internet fraud, followed by significant loss of money, is improper verification of payment orders. After receiving the e-mail of the boss, the secretary or accountant transfers thousands of euros not to the cooperation partner, but to a completely foreign account. There are already smarter approaches and the need to be smarter for entrepreneurs in the case of extortion viruses.

Mālkalnietis said that a typical example is a company that provides remote access to employees, but does not provide this connection with increased security solutions. According to the expert, relying on a password is not safe, because passwords tend to be short, and people tend to repeat them. And the robot has no trouble cracking the password.

And then all you have to do is select the most important data folders and run the squeeze virus. On Monday morning, starting the working day, the entrepreneur finds that the data cannot be accessed, but there is an attempt to extort the screen. Part of the shame or hope of getting through a healthy squeezer pays off, but there may be cases where data is also corrupted or criminals collect customer information or other commercial data.

Nauris Kļava, a partner of the auditing company Ernst & Young in the Baltic States, told about the data of this year’s research, which shows that the risks have significantly increased. Almost 80% of business leaders and cyber security professionals have acknowledged that they have experienced cyber attacks and are seeing an increase in their number.

“Often the biggest risk factor is not the computer system or data protection, but the employee. For example,” fishing “, where the goal is to get the employee to open the link sent in the email. And then the software is already installed, which has negative consequences, “said Kļava.

In his view, companies allow the attack due to both ignorance and frugality. But most of all, it is a lack of risk assessment, hoping that nothing bad will happen in the company. “However, the costs are high enough to provide a high level of cybersecurity. But when there is an attack, the costs are very high,” the Maple warned.

In the survey, only one in ten entrepreneurs expressed full confidence in their company’s ability to withstand cyber-attackers. Industry experts point out that it is only a matter of time before those who save money on these things will face a significant information security risk.

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