Cyber security is a growing problem as many industries begin to move into the digital platform. In fact, HousingWire magazine’s issue from April was dedicated to the rising problem of cyber security.
Recently, Cyber-security firm Kaspersky Lab uncovered an online marketplace with criminals from all over the world selling access to over 70,000 hacked corporate and government servers, according to an article by Ilya Khrennikov for Bloomberg Technology. Some were sold for as low as $6 each.
The marketplace is similar to EBay, according to the article. The owners verify the quality of the hacked data, then charge a 5% commission for transactions.
From the article:
As businesses ranging from banks to retailers go digital, hacking is getting more advanced and is often instrumental to traditional crime. Markets offering criminals both the tools to hack into networks and the spoils of successful attacks such as credit card data are growing in size and complexity. U.S. authorities worked with counterparts from more than a dozen other countries in 2015 to dismantle a sophisticated computer forum known as Darkode, described as an online, invitation-only market for cyber-criminals to buy and sell products for infecting electronic devices.
Recently, it has spread so much that the National Association of Federal Credit Unions urged congress to pass legislation that would require stricter standards for retailers in the fight against hacking.
In February, experts on a panel at the Mortgage Bankers Association Mortgage Servicing conference outlined the threat trends facing the mortgage industry and what companies could do to make their companies safer from a cyber-attack.
