Reply To: OCU C)DFE Week 01 Discussion
As Kevin stated there are countless cases involving computer fraud and cybercrime. The case I found interesting happened in November of 2022 and involved the Government of Costa Rica. Hackers using ransomware were able to gain access to the government’s critical systems for weeks. The Costa Rica government declared a state of emergency during this time. Because of the attack, the government was unable to pay its workers on time. The fraud case was so bad that it affected the tax and customs system as well causing the country’s import/export logistics to collapse.
It was determined that the Conti ransomware gang was responsible for the attack and they demanded $20 million in ransom payment. The gang claims to have stolen an estimated 50% of the government’s data during the weeks-long attack.
As cybercriminals get smarter and technology advances I think some of the things that could have been done to help stop this kind of fraud would be better security policies and procedures, stronger forms of authentication, and making sure your security officer is trained and up to date to be able to recognize an attack and how to mitigate the theft or fraud. Another step to help prevent fraud attacks is to regularly test your system and practice scenarios just like this one to determine if your system is hackproof and/or what needs to be put into place to change the security of your data.
Reference
