Cyber extortion social problems and dillemas
In the previous post main causes and methods of cyber extortion were described and some consequence that may occur been mentioned. A topic of this post is a social aspect of cyber extortion, victims dillemas that may occur in those situations and problems it causes for companies or individuals in real life. In the first paragraph companies weakpoints familiar to all cyber extorters and ways of their abuse will be explained. The second paragraph points out the problem of many unreported attacks that were not uncovered and prevented only due to victims hesitation to tell security services about their problems. The final paragraph will focus to the largest dillema when it comes to cyber extortion- whether its better to fight the extorters and risk even worse outcome or to complete their demands and give yourself the oppurtunity to get rid of them once and for all.
Finding companies weakpoints
Cybercrooks have knowledge of the dynamics of consumer brand loyalty to particular online services and they know that if the customer is precluded from accessing their preferred website they�ll eventually choose another provider, a surrogate, which has the same, or similar services available. Corporate secrets might also possess considerable resale value to rival companies and the threat of resale can be a great motivation to pay blackmail ransoms. When it comes to cyber extortion, companies can suffer leakage of sensitive information which can easily lead to serious reputation damage, loss of customers, and subsequent losses of income. Therefore, successful cyber extortion can be fatal for company�s reputation and assets. A particularly dangerous situation is when extortionists threaten to release confidential customer information, such as names, credit card numbers and other credentials. They can even take control of victim�s own website, publich customer data on it and the victim is then at risk of being brought to court for exposing customers� private information. Financial and healthcare companies can be held liable for such acts of disclosure and hefty government fines are also possible, which are usually larger then extortion money which makes it much easier for criminals to make their victims pay.
Hiding the problems
As victims of cyber extortion, small businesses have the most to lose, given that they generally lack qualitative and sizable IT departments, and don�t have a big profit and brand recognition which could save them from complete disaster when a scandal occours, so they rather sweep Internet extortion attempts under the rug pretending that �that is the cost of doing business�. It that situation the government and other empowered institutions cannot prosecute the wrongdoers if they are not sued and procedurally called upon. In spite of the growing number of cyber extortion cases, many injured parties, concerning all the ensuing negativity, are hesitant to get in touch with the authorities to apprehend criminals. The FBI reported that more than two-thirds of companies struck by a grievous cyber attack never report it. On this website Internet crime statistics, including cyber extortion losses, number of victims and reports can be found.
Nevertheless, based upon the great number of business now looking for protection and guidance, an impartial bystander can judge for themselves that this issue has a real presence and is gaining momentum. Deciding not to report the extortion, companies prefer to choose the lesser evil, at least from their point of view. And yet, there are signs that private companies already feel more comfortable discussing the problem of cyber security openly, because they�re not the only entities to face these issues and it became a common occurance.
To pay or not to pay
To pay or not to pay is a dilemma that always reappears in the victims minds. On one hand, the first time it happens victims are offended, upset, they look for help and can�t get it from the law enforcement community, and so they are forced to make the payment. On the other hand, once the extortion money is payed, it cant stop attackers from showing up very soon with new demands, or even worse, even after you pay they can still keep your data and they can do anything they want with it.
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