Organized crime heads to cyberspace

When you think about organized crime, you might picture Marlon Brando in The Godfather. But these days, organized crime has a far different venue: It's in cyberspace. A new report by Verizon Business, a firm hired by some of the nation's largest companies to investigate data breaches, has concluded that a handful of organized cybercrime gangs were responsible for a string of data breaches last year that targeted financial institutions in the United States and other countries.

These actions must be taken seriously, and something must be done to stop them. There were roughly 100 confirmed data breaches last year affecting about 285 million consumer records nationwide, according to the Washington Post. That's no small number, and nothing to ignore.

The culprits are hard to find. Many of the breaches came through Eastern Europe, Bryan Sartin, director of investigative response at Verizon Business, told the Post. One organized group, based in Russia, infiltrated more than 300 companies. The group scored big last year at the expense of Atlanta-based payment processor RBS WorldPay. Hackers made off with nearly $10 million from the U.S. banking system, far bigger than the old-fashioned armed robbery at a bank, says the article.

For more on organized crime and data breaches:
- check out this WashingtonPost.com article

Related Articles:
Survey: Firms endure financial losses after cyberattacks
Cybercrime targets small businesses
Maintaining security is a continuous effort
Is security eating up your IT budget?