The most vulnerable cybercrime targets aren’t always the most obvious | #cybercrime | #infosec

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — As modern technology becomes more advanced, cybercrimes are becoming more prevalent. Families and businesses everywhere are left to keep pace so they can stay protected.

Cybercrimes expert Danny Jenkens, a former ethical hacker, joined ARC Florida on Monday to talk about the latest tactics and how to stay safe.

While the vision of a hacker banging on keyboard alone in a dark, messy room permeates pop culture, Jenkens points out that notion doesn’t mesh with reality. Lone wolves are out there, but hackers more often operate together in coordinated organizations.

They team up with the explicit goal to make money, whether that’s by accessing banking information to cash in directly or grabbing information like Social Security Numbers to steal victims’ identities or locking down personal information that can be held for ransom.

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Jenkens estimated just a tiny share of businesses are fully protected from external attacks and warned the ones who are most vulnerable are not necessarily the ones people might imagine.

“It’s normally the banks that are thinking about it; the smaller businesses tend to be hit the worst,” he noted.

There are many facets to being completely protected, and Jenkens went on to lay out a few places to start, including using two-factor authentication, not running untrusted software, and having backups that are not connected to the network.

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