Today, there are many security threats to the well being of individuals, corporations, governments, and entities of all kinds. The method of gaining access to secured information has shifted to means of cybercrime and has become significantly effective. Each year, organizations experience data breaches resulting in compromised records of financial and personal information.[1]
Since January 2015, over $3 billion of damages have resulted from cyber attacks in the form of CEO email scams alone.[2] This year, the spending on security products worldwide is estimated to reach over $81 billion due to the increasingly complicated threats of hackers.[3] There are many types of hackers who attempt to gain finances and information for various reasons. Hacktivists, terrorists, and state-backed hackers have different motives and objectives in the acquisition and dissemination of our information. It is increasingly difficult to distinguish perpetrators of virtual crimes however; many of these crimes begin in the same way, often with a prompt. It is vital that security companies employ personnel who are capable of improving security features at the same rate to which hackers are evolving, and to identify and eliminate dangers right when they appear.
[1] Steve Ranger, Cybercrime and cyberwar: A spotter’s guide to the groups that are out to get you, ZDNet (Sept. 1, 2016), http://www.zdnet.com/article/cybercrime-and-cyberwar-a-spotters-guide-to-the-groups-that-are-out-to-get-you/.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.