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Since the advent of the most rudimentary technology, criminal
activity has followed. And in more recent times, the internet
certainly has been no stranger to criminal enterprises. Indeed,
governmental entities, companies and individuals are falling victim
to all sorts of cyber-crimes on a constant basis. A look at just
one criminal target drives home the rampant nature of online
attacks.
Brace yourself for this – the City of London Corporation
suffered almost one million cyber-attacks monthly for the
first quarter of 2019, based on information obtained by Centrify as
reported by info security-magazine.com. That indisputably is a
phenomenal number of attacks on the local authority which oversees
capital housing for a good portion of the financial center in
London.
In total, the City of London Corporation endured practically 2.8
million attacks during the subject time period, averaging 927,000
per month. And the trend is troubling, as this represents a 90%
increase from the preceding quarter, last quarter of 2018.
The largest category of attacks were classified as spam, which
can be burdensome, but fortunately, often may not result in
significant damage or harm.
The second largest category was attributed to "spoof
mail," likely relating to phishing efforts.
There were also a large number attacks referred to as "top
malware."
On the one hand, the sheer number of attacks is of concern,
especially the sharp upward trend. On the other hand, it is
positive that at least the attacks are being detected.
Nevertheless, the City of London Corporation houses sensitive
information within its systems and databases, and like other
government entities and companies maintaining sensitive
information, is a target by cyber-criminals. While phishing and
malware at first blush might not sound so troubling at first blush
because they do not necessarily get the headlines like a
distributed denial of service attack that shuts down a web site,
the mass scale of such attacks can result in significant collective
harm.
The challenge is to stay ahead of cyber-criminals by putting
security and detection technology measures in place and to keep
updating those measures as cyber-criminals continue to become more
sophisticated and adept in the criminal practices.
Disclaimer:This Alert has been
prepared and published for informational purposes only and is not
offered, nor should be construed, as legal advice. For more
information, please see the firm's
full disclaimer.
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