Investigators in Romania Busy with Hacker Threat

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Investigators in Romania Busy with Hacker Threat

Cyber crime is one of the most increasing types of crime in the world. The most recent Cost of Cyber Crime Study reveals that the average annualized average cost of cyber crime for just 60 organizations in the study is around $11.6 million per year. In 2012, the average annualized cost was $8.9 million, which means that the cost has increased by 26% in only one year. And remember, this is on average, for the average company, per year! Clearly across an entire industry, the cost of cyber crime become staggering on the global scale. Investigators say costs are increasing as criminal activity and hacking rises.

Now, if those figures still do not impress you, the most recent hacking success that hit the media was Target´s security breach, which exposed credit card and personal data on more than 110 million consumers. The fact is that cyber crime greatly affects organizations, but it is an important risk for individuals too.

How does Target´s breach relate to Romania? There is a small city in Romania that has “Hackerville” as a nickname. It´s population is of 120,000 people, and it´s full of hackers. Cybercrime is organized crime, it works as a network and it has branches globally, and business is booming. Romania has become one of the world’s biggest hacker threats, and investigators are busy helping clients avoid it.

No one really knows how or why this started to happen. The only given facts are that the people from this town lived greatly repressed and had little to no access to information during the dictatorship years, and that the revolution and Internet changed their lives. But instead of using technology for good, it was used as a means of attack. Cyber cafés offered cheap Internet access, and the crooks in town got busy posting fake ads, then learning tips on online dating scams and further on becoming experts on hacking.

Romanian investigators are now working on very complicated cases of e-commerce scams, of identity theft and many other cases of online fraud originating from Romania. However, their recommendation is always to prevent something like this to happen to you or your company before it happens. “The cost of preventing fraud can never be compared to the cost of trying to repair the damages. A simple background check investigation would save a lot of victims from serious financial losses and other complications”, says John Wallace from Wymoo International. Protect your data and verify new contacts.

Cyber threats represent today some of the most dangerous risks to national security, to corporate security and to individual security. The FBI is taking action to stop it, but the problem is only getting worse. It is crucial for the rest of us to fully understand the importance of this. Companies and individuals need more than ever to adopt a cyber-security culture, to recognize how important it is to protect their information online and to learn about mechanisms that can help raise the bar on safety. Measures can be as simple as not sharing any personal information online, to very sophisticated software and highly trained professionals who can minimize risk in the organizations. Due diligence and background checks are recommended.

If you are considering a business deal with an unknown party in Romania, stop and due your international due diligence. Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. Trained investigators can verify any individual or company in Romania, and minimize your risk for fraud and security breaches.

If you make an effort on prevention, and verify new contacts, you can go a long way.