Recent Computer Crime Stories

The article I chose to review for week 8 was from eWeek which pertains to the cyber-attacks on Hilton properties at their point of sale registers.

eWeek posted an article on September 28, 2015 "Hilton Investigating Report of Breaches Across the Hotel Chain" (Read article: http://www.eweek.com/security/hilton-investigating-report-of-breaches-across-the-hotel-chain.html).

This attack targeted numerous point-of-sale registers for Hilton properties, this included coffee shops, restaurants and gift shops at the properties. Hilton is just one of the many companies that are defenseless to cyber-attacks; reasoning is that as much as their networks are secure there is always a weak link, the end user/customer providing cyber-criminals access to personal information which can then be used to steal identities, participate in criminal activities, etc.

This week got me thinking of "who gets hurt when cyber-crimes occur?" The answer is ‘all of us’, starting with the loss of intellectual property, loss in consumer confidence, and let’s not forget broken privacy laws when personal information is stolen. The more tangible breaches occur when cyber-crimes are committed for financial gains, such as on banks where access is gained to customer accounts and money is taken without authorization, stolen credit card information, confidential information from business that can be used for instant gains, etc.

Unless more attention is made to this issue globally cyber-crimes has the ability to pose serious risks to not only on our economy but the world economy, as the trend of outsourcing work for cheaper labour costs is growing so is the risk of the loss of intellectual property, etc. Unless the laws on cyber-crime have a global standard there may be no repercussions for cyber-criminals when caught.

Reference

Kerner, S. (2015, September 28). Hilton Investigating Report of Breaches Across the Hotel Chain. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://www.eweek.com/security/hilton-investigating-report-of-breaches-across-the-hotel-chain.html

Net Losses: Estimating the Global Cost of Cybercrime Economic impact of cybercrime II. (2014). Center for Strategic and International Studies. Retrieved from http://www.mcafee.com/ca/resources/reports/rp-economic-impact-cybercrime2.pdf

Speiser, M. (2015, September 25). Hackers reportedly stole credit card data from numerous Hilton hotel properties. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://www.businessinsider.com/hackers-steal-credit-card-data-from-hilton-hotels-2015-9