You might have been shocked to learn that hackers tapped into JPMorgan Chase's information system, gaining access to data approximately 83 million of its customers.
But, "the most sophisticated, well-funded and determined cyber attackers have been relentlessly hammering on banks, fund managers, brokerage houses, stock exchanges and the like since at least 2011," cybersecurity expert Byron Acohido, editor-in-chief of ThirdCertainty.com, writes on
Credit.com.
"Criminals go where the money is."
For example, in 2012-13 the Iranian hacking collective Cyber Fighters of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam disabled information services at Bank of America, Charles Schwab, American Express, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Citibank and SunTrust.
Meanwhile, the same hackers who attacked JPMorgan — thought to be from Russia — infiltrated nine other financial institutions too, knowledgeable sources tell
The New York Times.
"These cyber attacks against America's financial infrastructure are sophisticated, well-funded and highly coordinated," Acohido says.
"The motive: simple greed, but also ideological fervor--and sometimes both. This is not something the financial sector cares to discuss publicly."
And what makes financial service and other companies so vulnerable? The fact that so much of their operations now take place on the Internet cloud and mobile devices, Acohido writes.
"The Internet was never meant to handle secure transactions, nor preserve an individual's privacy. Our rush to leverage the Internet for legit commerce has spawned marginally ethical business ventures while also creating vast criminal opportunities."
As for JPMorgan, it said the danger for its customers now is phishing, which consists of fooling people into providing more valuable information than the hackers have garnered so far, such as user IDs and passwords.
"If they find the CEO of a company, they know this person's worth a lot of money. They would try to attack that person," said Jeff Tjiputra, chairman of the cybersecurity program at the University of Maryland, tells
Bloomberg.
However, "it's not an easy hack or scam."
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