Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/1212207
PalletCentral • January-February 2020 19 changes be reverted. The merchant processor reverted the changes. After client B was able to log in to his account, he observed that a nearly $80,000 deposit was pending for his account along with nearly $5,000 in chargebacks. Once again, he contacted the merchant processor and was told that the $80,000 was from charges made with stolen credit cards. Some of the credit card victims had already disputed the charges resulting in the chargebacks. Confused as to what happened? Client B's computers were infected. This gave the bad guy access to company emails, online account login credentials, and more. Client B hired an IT company, a one-man operation referred to him by his accountant. The IT person scanned the computers, changed a few passwords, and said they were secure. What client B did not know was that this IT person didn't have the skills or knowledge necessary to secure the company. After a month of client B attempting to resolve the problem, our team was hired to mitigate the problem. We discovered malware on every computer that had been there for years. Somewhere along the way, someone attempted to download and install an antivirus program only to download and install a fake, malicious version of the antivirus program. The previous IT person thought the malicious antivirus program was the legitimate program. He was using it to run scans. Because of the viruses and other malicious software on the computers, the bad guys had access to everything necessary to contact the merchant processor and change information. Once changed, the bad guys began processing charges to stolen credit card numbers. We have worked with numerous small business over the years that thought they were too small to be noticed by hackers. No one is too small to be hacked. Your cybersecurity is dependent on the actions of one person, an owner, a manager, or an employee. Hackers today not what you might think. Today, hackers are modern-day organized crime. They are organizations run like any other business. They write business plans, have sales funnels, and staff from entry-level to the CEO. Their only focus is getting between you and your money or your information. You, on-the-other-hand, are focused on running and growing your business. It is an unfair battle. The first step to cybersecurity is to have an IT person or company with the skills and knowledge to defend you, where possible, from attacks. The second step is to strengthen the weakest link, the human factor. Numbers Don't Lie If you are having a hard time believing you or your company is at risk, you can google "Cyber Crime" to reveal the depth of the global (and local) threat. But the research data reveals the aggressive nature of the international cybercrime industry is lurking around you. It is estimated that, "cybercrime will cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015" according to Steve Morgan, Editor-in-Chief, Cybercrime Magazine. "This represents the greatest transfer of economic wealth in history, risks the incentives for innovation and investment, and will be more profitable than the global trade of all major illegal drugs combined." The prediction is from research by Cybersecurity Ventures, owned by ABC's Shark Tank star, Robert Herjavec, CEO & Founder of Herjavec Group. According to Symantec, a security software company, ransomware detections have been more dominant in countries with higher numbers of internet-connected populations. The United States ranks highest with 18.2 percent of all ransomware No one [company] is too small to be hacked. Your cybersecurity is dependent on the actions of one person, an owner, a manager, or an employee. iStockphoto.com/ValeryBrozhinsky