Scotland Yard is warning of the stark reality that Londoners are losing on average £26 million a month due to cyber fraud and attacks on businesses and individuals. About 3,500 victims of cyber fraud are recorded in the capital each month, with phishing emails, ransomware and malware the most common scams.
Detective Chief Superintendent Mick Gallagher, head of the Met’s Organised Crime Command, believes “a lack of understanding of the cyber threat” is to blame. Javvad Malik, Security Advocate at AlienVault commented below.
Javvad Malik, Security Advocate at AlienVault:
“Targeting users with phishing or spearphishing attacks is a popular tactic among cyber criminals. It requires several layers to effectively protect against.
Firstly, users should be trained, or make themselves familiar with knowing how to spot phishing attacks. This can include looking out for poor grammar and spelling, checking where the email has originated from, and whether email is the usual way of communication.
If a user does fall victim to a scam, enterprises should have threat detection capabilities that can notify when an account has been compromised, new devices added to the network, or strange outbound traffic occurs.
Finally companies should have a response plan in place. That way if a user does fall victim to a phishing scam, any malware infection, or compromised credentials can be isolated and contained so as not to adversely impact the organisation.”
