According to Brian Krebs with The Washington Post,
The FBI reports that cyber criminals have stolen over $40 million from U.S. small and mid-size firms since 2004, with the majority of them happening since the end of 2008.
The bad guys steal the victim's online banking credentials using malicious software distributed through spam. The crooks then make unauthorized money transfers, just under the banking reporting limits. The money is put into the account of a "money mule". A money mule is a willing or unwilling individual recruited over the Internet, usually through work-at-home job scams. The mules are instructed to pull the money out of their account and wire it to the bad guys, typically via Western Union or MoneyGram. These criminal groups operate in counties like Moldova, Russia, and / or the Ukraine.
Businesses that bank on-line are not covered by the same protections as consumers who bank on-line. Typically, when a consumer is defrauded, the bank will make them hole. Businesses bear more responsibility / liability.
The full article may be viewed at:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/10/fbi_cyber_gangs_stole_40mi.html
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I did not realize that business credit card accounts did not have protections -- haven't heard this discussion before.
ReplyDeleteThey have some protections, just not anything compared to consumers. At this point, a consumer can write their PIN number on the back of their ATM card, and they are still protected from unauthorized ATM transactions.
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