Cybercrime Prevention

Cybercrime prevention is crucial to saving potentially millions in damages, protecting sensitive data, and ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations like HIPAA, PCI-DSS, or GDPR. 

Cybercrime encompasses a broad spectrum of conducting scams and exploiting vulnerabilities. In response, organizations need a multi-layered cybersecurity strategy to protect themselves from threat actors.

Cybercrime Prevention: An Overview

As technology evolves so does the sophistication of cybercrimes. Understanding the latest cyber threats ensures organizations can implement adequate controls to protect themselves. Additional benefits of keeping track of cybercrime trends include:

• Enhancing awareness among employees
• Developing effective cybercrime prevention strategies
• Improving response time to incidents
• Allocating resources to fill cybersecurity gaps
• Adapting security protocols as new threats emerge

What are the top cybercrimes? Causes and real-life examples

There are many ways for threat actors to infiltrate your system. Many types are categorized in broad categories and broken down into smaller types with unique characteristics and methodologies. While this isn’t an exhaustive list, it does cover the most common issues that organizations face.

• Ransomware attacks: Malicious software like ransomware may get installed in your system because of a security vulnerability or a lack of awareness. In February 2024, a ransomware attack left the data of 190 million people exposed.
• Phishing and social engineering: Bad actors exploit human trust to convince victims to share personal or corporate data. AI has made the threats more sophisticated. A deepfake scam cost a company $25 million after an employee believed they were in a video meeting with fellow employees that turned out to be digitally cloned.
• Data breaches: Data breaches can occur for various reasons, including vulnerabilities and human error. The biggest known data breach is appropriately called The Mother of All Breaches which exposed over 26 billion records in 2023.
• Identity theft: Identity theft usually happens when information doesn’t have the proper protection. Whether that’s poor password hygiene or improper storage, threat actors take advantage of the situation to impersonate you.
• DDoS attacks: Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are when a server, network, or system is overloaded with traffic requests until it stops functioning. They can cause widespread disruption. Companies like Google and Amazon have mitigated these types of threats.     

Regardless of the method, cybercrime can cause financial losses, reputational damage, and disruptive operations. Organizations may also face fines and legal consequences from regulatory bodies for not protecting data properly. 

What are ways to prevent cybercrime?

Cybercrime prevention is a combination of security tools, employee awareness, and regulatory frameworks. There are multiple ways to prevent cybercrime, and every organization may have a different approach. However, organizations must invest in their cyber defense. 

According to Gartner, “Simply put, cybersecurity fails because of a lack of adequate controls.” While an organization can’t control threats, it is in a position to enforce security readiness. Here are some elements to consider when building a robust security framework:

Threat exposure management

Threat exposure management continuously scans for bad actors, assesses risk, and prioritizes threats. It’s a proactive approach that measures your threat exposure in the digital landscape. By automating this process, security teams can manage their resources more effectively.

Security awareness training

Employees and stakeholders need regular updates on the latest cybersecurity threats. They should also receive training on password policies, detecting potential phishing scams, and having good cybersecurity habits. Security training can turn human weaknesses into a strong defense against cybercrime.

Implement security policies

Organizations can’t provide security awareness training unless there are clear guidelines for data protection, system access, and employee responsibilities. Establishing security policies helps mitigate risk, ensures accountability, and promotes a culture of security.

Create incident response plans

While the goal is to avoid data exposure, organizations need a plan for when security incidents occur. Detailed incident response plans minimize downtime and damage. The plans should contain information on how to conduct containment, eradication, and recovery. 

Implement access controls

Role-based access control ensures employees only receive access to information needed for their job responsibilities. Access control can help mitigate damage if an account is compromised. 

Keep systems and software updated

Operating systems and software need the latest updates, so they have the newest security patches. Many programs have the option to auto-update which can ensure comprehensive coverage.

Conduct regular assessments and audits

An organization’s security system should undergo frequent tests and audits to find potential weaknesses. Organizations may also want to consult with external experts who can help identify areas of improvement and provide recommendations for a strong security posture.

Employ monitoring tools

Advanced monitoring tools can provide real-time threat detection and response. They often integrate with threat intelligence feeds to provide personalized reports for organizations about the latest threats and attacks they may face.

What Is the Impact of Cybercrime in Today’s Landscape?

The impact of cybercrime is extraordinarily substantial. Just take a look at these two numbers from the “Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024” by IBM and Ponemon Institute:

• The global average cost of a data breach in 2024 is $4.88 million.
• The average cost savings of organizations that implemented security AI and automation in 2024 is $2.22 million.

It’s clear that putting in the effort for a comprehensive and multi-layered security approach can save organizations from the costs of cybercrime. 

Cybercrime Prevention with Flare

How does Flare monitor cyber threats?

Flare automatically scans the clear and dark web for leaked credentials. The platform will send an immediate alert if it detects compromised credentials. The timely and relevant notifications ensure security teams can quickly identify and respond to threats.

Why do security teams use Flare for cyber threat monitoring?

It’s not realistic to manually monitor for cyber threats on the web. However, monitoring is still an important part of a multi-faceted security approach. 

Flare provides an automated solution that combs through the entire Internet to find mentions of your organization, employees, and other notable information. Security teams are immediately notified of related credentials, so they can take action.

What are the benefits of Flare?

• Monitors thousands of cybercrime communities including the dark web, Telegram channels, and I2P.
• Translates foreign languages for faster mitigation of threats.
• Provides relevant, summarized, and easily accessible threat intelligence. 

Flare and Cybercrime prevention

The Flare Threat Exposure Management (TEM) solution empowers organizations to proactively detect, prioritize, and mitigate the types of exposures commonly exploited by threat actors. 

Our platform automatically scans the clear & dark web and prominent threat actor communities 24/7 to discover unknown events, prioritize risks, and deliver actionable intelligence you can use instantly to improve security. Deploying monitoring services can enhance your cybercrime prevention strategy.

Flare integrates into your security program in 30 minutes and often replaces several SaaS and open source tools. Learn more by signing up for our free trial.