Real Cybercrime Stories from the CSRA

What do true crime stories and Managed IT have in common?? Read on to find out…

Imagine this:? you are excited to finally close a real estate deal, after having gone through the stress and hoopla that come with the search and purchase process. On the day of close, your agent sends you directions for wiring the money.? You follow the directions and wait for confirmation that the deal is done.? Sure enough, the phone rings, but instead of a “congratulations!” call, you are told that the seller did not receive the money.? It’s gone from YOUR end, but it did not end up on THEIR end.? You panic.? Where did it go??

In the ensuing hours and days, it becomes clear:?a cybercriminal hacked the wire transaction, and the money is sitting in HIS bank account, not yours and not the seller’s.? You are out of a massive amount of money and your real estate deal has fallen through.? Since far less than 1% of hacking incidents are ever solved, you are stuck holding the bag without a chance to recover your funds.? Instead of the joys and satisfaction of ownership, you are now dealing with the despair and stress of financial loss and, probably, legal woes.

Except this isn’t imagination. This is reality, and it’s not the reality of some galaxy far, far away.? This is a true crime story which has happened multiple times right here in the CSRA, with another recent incident in which cybercriminals stole more than half a million dollars!

This is not an isolated incident in the real estate industry, and other businesses and industries are no different. We could share other recent true crime stories – like the software attack on the doctor’s office which prevented access to billing and payment information for several weeks.? Or the hack that allowed a criminal access to a local contractor’s invoicing and sent out fake bills to their customers (with, of course, payment going to the criminals).

If you think we are trying to scare you, you are correct!? Many business owners are simply unaware of how significant cyber threats are to their business.? Some think that cybercriminals primarily target multinational corporations in multimillion dollar incidents.? In reality, businesses of all sizes in the CSRA are prime targets, and hackers tailor their demands based on the size of your business – they will demand an amount that you can pay.

As a managed IT service provider, BIT Services can be your “ear to the ground” on local cyber threats. In fact, we offer a FREE Network Security Assessment! This assessment reveals weaknesses in your computer security that leave you vulnerable to cybercrimes like the ones above. (PRO TIP:?after countless assessments, we’ve never found a network that DIDN’T have vulnerabilities!)?

Contact us at (803) 226-0837 or [email protected] to schedule your FREE Network Security Assessment or to discover how we can help meet your business IT goals!