Category Archives: Target: Small Businesses

Posts in this category will include new stories similar to those told in the Small Business Victims category on The Washington Post’s Security Fix blog, which chronicled the methods organized cyber thieve are using to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from dozens of small- to mid-sized companies around the country.

MoneyGram Fined $100 Million for Wire Fraud

November 19, 2012
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A week ago Friday, the U.S. Justice Department announced that MoneyGram International had agreed to pay a $100 million fine and admit to criminally aiding and abetting wire fraud and failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. Loyal readers of this blog no doubt recognize the crucial role that MoneyGram and its competitors play in the siphoning of millions of dollars annually from hacked small- to mid-sized business, but incredibly this settlement appears to be unrelated to these cyber heists.

Cyberheists ‘A Helluva Wake-up Call’ to Small Biz

November 6, 2012
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The $180,000 robbery took the building security and maintenance system installer Primary Systems Inc. by complete surprise. More than two-dozen people helped to steal funds from the company’s coffers in an overnight heist in May 2012, but none of the perpetrators were ever caught on video. Rather, a single virus-laden email that an employee clicked on let the attackers open a digital backdoor, exposing security weaknesses that unfortunately persist between many banks and their corporate customers.

Uptick in Cyber Attacks on Small Businesses

August 3, 2012
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New data suggests that cyber attacks aimed at smaller businesses have increased markedly over the past six months, a finding that dovetails with my own reporting on businesses that are suffering six-figure losses from sophisticated cyber heists.

According to Symantec, attacks against small businesses doubled in the first six months of 2012 compared to the latter half of 2011. In its June intelligence report, the security firm found that 36 percent of all targeted attacks (58 per day) during the last six months were directed at businesses with 250 or fewer employees. That figure was 18 percent at the end of Dec. 2011.

EU to Banks: Assume All PCs Are Infected

July 12, 2012
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An agency of the European Union created to improve network and data security is offering some blunt, timely and refreshing advice for financial institutions as they try to secure the online banking channel: “Assume all PCs are infected.”

The unusually frank perspective comes from the European Network and Information Security Agency, in response to a recent “High Roller” report (PDF) by McAfee and Guardian Analytics on sophisticated, automated malicious software strains that are increasingly targeting high-balance bank accounts. The report detailed how thieves using custom versions of the ZeuS and SpyEye Trojans have built automated, cloud-based systems capable of defeating multiple layers of security, including hardware tokens, one-time transaction codes, even smartcard readers. These malware variants can be set up to automatically initiate transfers to vetted money mule or prepaid accounts, just as soon as the victim logs in to his account.

Court Ruling Could Be Boon to Cyberheist Victims

July 6, 2012
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A decision handed down by a federal appeals court this week may make it easier for small businesses owners victimized by cyberheists to successfully recover stolen funds by suing their bank.

The U.S. Federal Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has reversed a decision from Aug. 2011, which held that Ocean Bank (now People’s United) was not at fault for a $588,000 cyberheist in 2009 against one of its customers — Patco Construction Co. The appeals court sent specific aspects of the earlier decision back to the lower court for review, but it encouraged both parties to settle the matter out of court.

Bank Settles With Calif. Cyberheist Victim

June 26, 2012
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A California escrow firm that sued its bank last year after losing nearly $400,000 in a 2010 cyberheist has secured a settlement that covers the loss and the company’s attorneys fees. The settlement is notable because such cases typically favor the banks, and litigating them is often prohibitively expensive for small- to mid-sized businesses victimized by these crimes.

A Closer Look: Email-Based Malware Attacks

June 21, 2012
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Nearly every time I write about a small to mid-sized business that has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars after falling victim to a malicious software attack, readers ask how the perpetrators broke through the victim organization’s defenses, and which type of malware paved the way. Normally, victim companies don’t know or disclose that information, so to get a better idea, I’ve put together a rough profile of the top daily email-based malware attacks over the past month.

House Committee to Probe e-Banking Heists

May 31, 2012
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The House Financial Services Committee is slated to hold a hearing this Friday on the impact of cyber heists against small- to mid-sized businesses. It’s too bad the committee has already finalized its witness list: It likely would be shocked to hear the story of Tennessee Electric Company Inc., a firm that lost $328,000 earlier this month in an account takeover that defeated multiple security measures commonly used by commercial banks to stop cyber thieves.