If you’re not careful, open the wrong email and click a link – personal data could unintentionally reach hackers – and be resold on the Darknet. Cybercrime is exploding. What has changed in recent years: Hacker gangs are organized like an SME. “These are smart guys with logistics, public relations, customer service, etc.,” says Otto Hostettler, a “Observer” journalist who has written a book on cybercrime.
Also, longer, more fundamentally, every private person and every company is a possible target of cyberattacks. While big blackmailing gangs still had some sort of code of ethics two or three years ago – healthcare facilities, for example, were taboo – this is no longer an issue.
Peter Heinrich heads the process management and information security department at the Institute for Business Informatics at ZHAW, and says: “The first time a hacker gains access to an employee’s email account, he or she practically steps through the door. ” Then you will try to move forward and gain more rights and powers until you “finally attack the company and cause damage”.
The global economic damage is enormous: According to a report by a US think tank, cybercrime costs the global economy around CHF 600 billion a year.
Who is behind these attacks? How are gangs organized? How can SMEs, as well as private individuals, better protect themselves from them? How do we better deal with passwords in everyday life – and how do we back them up to be effective? The new episode “Perspective” answers. (lao)