Cyber criminals target sensitive information

Cyber criminals are targeting sensitive information related to Defence, Industry, Finance and Research. Information obtained by them is often sold in the Dark Web Market.

For instance cyber criminals stole sensitive military information about Drones, Tanks, ways to survive IED, etc;. This information was offered for sale in the Dark Web Market for ridiculously low prices. One can imagine the situation if such information reached enemy countries or terror groups.

Increasing incidents of cyber attacks targeting sensitive health care documents and attempts to hold to ransom public health services is another major concern.

Common man has no access to such sensitive information. Then how come the Cyber criminals get to steal the same? One approach they take is to break into public email services used by contractors and get such information. Another approach is using vulnerabilities in routers.

For example, routers which allow users to plug in data storage devices like USB sticks to access the data stored on those devices from pretty much anywhere with an internet connection. 

If users don’t change the default login settings on these routers, it’s really easy for cyber criminals to access the same data. In such exposed routers, all that the cyber criminal has to do is to search for the FTP (file transfer) addresses of exposed routers.

Lessons from above two approaches is avoid using public email for sharing sensitive documents. People who use whatsapp like applications to share sensitive documents need to be discouraged. Second, please ensure that the routers used at home or office are secure and passwords are changed at regular interval. With increasing number of users adopting wireless and broadband internet services, router security is all the more important.