Cyber-Crime: Strategies and Risks
Photo by Cristina Gottardi
Last week, while discussing financial risks, J.P. Morgan's CEO Jamie Dimon said, “I think the biggest vulnerability is cyber, just for about everybody … I think we have to focus on it, the United States government has to focus on it … We have to make sure because cyber — terrorist and cyber countries — they could cause real damage. We're already spending a lot of money and J.P. Morgan is secure but we should really worry about that."
Separately, as Europol released its “Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2018” report, Catherine De Bolle, its Executive Director, said “Cyber-crime cases are increasingly complex and sophisticated … Law enforcement requires additional training and investigative and forensic resources in order to adequately deal with these challenges … The policing opportunities arising from emerging technologies, such as big data analytics and machine learning, need to be seized.
“While some cyber-attacks continue to grab headlines with their magnitude, other areas of cyber-crime are no less of a threat or concern. Payment fraud continues to emphasise criminal gains and the facilitation of other crimes, as well as significant financial losses for citizens and financial institutions alike.”
Finally, White House national security adviser John Bolton discussed the administration’s new cyber-strategy and said, "For any nation that's taking cyber activity against the United States, they should expect [that] we will respond offensively as well as defensively … We're going to do a lot of things offensively.”
OUR TAKE
The growth of digital finance and the global digital economy has driven innovation, while introducing complexity that has increased the amount of systemic risk.
At the same time, awareness for cyber-security has grown, but many organizations are reluctant to invest in full-scale security measures.
As John Bolton suggests using offensive cyber responses, many government agencies (local, state and federal), businesses and citizens remain exposed to cyber-crime and cyber-attacks.