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An insight into organised crime as a service

An insight into organised crime as a service

An insight into organised crime as a service

The rate of cyber attacks has accelerated over the last few years, especially ransomware attacks due to the financial returns that cybercriminals can get from them, and also due to the ease with which unskilled criminals can now mount these attacks.

This ease is due to the rise of ‘dark web crime as a service’ offerings. The days when attackers needed programming and hacking skills to mount ransomware or other cyberattack types against an organisation are over. Now, skilled cybercriminals are selling attack tools to anyone via the ‘as-a-service’ model that we have seen used in the non-criminal portions of the Internet. Ransomware-as-a-Service is especially popular - again, due to the financial returns that can result from a successful attack.

Webroot and other Renaissance partners have cybersecurity solutions to protect your organisation from cyberattacks originating from crime-as-a-service, and from more skilled attackers. In the sections below, we outline at a very high level some of the tasks that organisations should be carrying out to protect themselves from attack and put themselves in the best position to recover if an attack succeeds.

We are also hosting a fireside chat to discuss these topics. In the discussion, Renaissance Director Michael Conway (LinkedIn) and Webroot’s Product Marketing Director George Anderson (LinkedIn) will cover what’s new in the area of crime-as-a-service, security awareness training (SAT), and cybersecurity awareness more generally. You can listen to this chat HERE.

In the interim, check out the Renaissance Cyber Threats page for many great cybersecurity resources. Contact us via the form at the bottom of that page or our general contact page if you want to discuss anything cybersecurity-related.

What the Crime-as-a-Service Model Means

The crime-as-a-service tools that cybercriminals are making available to anyone who will pay for them (or share the proceeds from attacks) has lowered the cost of entry for cyber attackers. What this means in practice is that sophisticated attack tools and methods are no longer limited to criminal organisations and state actors. The lower cost of entry means that the size of organisations under attack has also come down. Previously, the costs associated with mounting an attack meant that larger organisations were the target as they had the resources to pay the ransoms demanded.

Now SMB-level organisations are firmly in the sights of attackers who previously did not have the skills to mount an attack. The increase in the number of attacks has been so significant recently (particularly ransomware) that the phenomenon has broken through into the mainstream news cycle and is on the radar of governments and multi-national bodies like the EU.

The attacks that we see reported are just the tip of the iceberg. In addition, industry research shows that the cost of dealing with ransomware is spiralling each year. Most of the costs are in recovery from an attack rather than paying any ransom that the criminals demand. The average cost of recovering from an attack can be over €1.5M, a cost that may be terminal to many SMB-sized organisations, especially as cyber insurance is proving more challenging to obtain and premiums are going up considerably.

Protecting Against Cyberattacks

The best way to avoid incurring the costs associated with ransomware, or another cyber attack type, is to prevent the attack from succeeding. The Renaissance and Webroot fireside chat will discuss this topic in the round. In the list below, we outline things that all organisations should be putting in place to boost their cybersecurity. We don’t go into detail but contact us to discuss any items listed.

  • Have documented policies and procedures so that everyone knows what to do when anything suspicious happens.
  • Perform frequent staff cybersecurity awareness training.
  • Use proactive defence tools such as network detection and response solutions.
  • Implement strong multi-factor authentication.
  • Keep network infrastructure and IT systems up to date with the latest security patches.
  • Install anti-malware and anti-virus protection on all devices that can run it.
  • Install endpoint protection on all devices.
  • Deploy Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools to provide a big picture view of the security posture.
  • Use Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions to secure and manage mobile devices, including laptops.
  • Secure Wi-Fi networks to the highest level possible, and don’t advertise wireless network addresses.
  • Have air-gapped and frequently tested backups to ensure that Admins can recover systems if ransomware encrypts data, or any other disaster occurs.

Conclusion

The availability of crime-as-a-service tools will only increase the threats faced by organisations, especially those that fall towards the medium and small end of the scale. Solutions are available to mitigate the risks. Join us for the fireside chat to hear more about the current cybersecurity landscape and check out the Renaissance Cyber Threats page for more resources.