What Is Cybercrime?

Cybercrime presents security risks to businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises. As technologies advance, cybercriminals refine their strategies, making it crucial for organizations to stay aware of emerging risks. 

This post focuses on the essence of cybercrime, outlining its various forms and the potential consequences. Knowing the ins and outs of cybercrime is vital for cybersecurity professionals to protect organizations’ most critical assets effectively. Read on to discover what cybercrime is and how to safeguard your organization against it.

Cybercrime explained

Cybercrime is any illicit activity committed via a computer, network, or networked device. This term encompasses many illegal activities, including phishing, identity theft, fraud, money laundering, stalking, and cyberbullying. 

Cybercriminals commit cyberattacks using various methods and are constantly developing new ones. They may use social engineering tactics to trick victims into sharing sensitive information, or might deploy malicious software for illicit activities.

While cybercriminals commit crimes for different reasons, the primary motive is financial gain. For example, attackers may demand ransom payments or sell stolen data to your competitors or the highest bidders on the dark web. Cybercriminals may also have personal, political, or ideological motives. 

Cybercrime comes in many forms. Understanding the main types of cybercrime will help you spot and manage potential threats.

Common types of cybercrime

Below, we’ll take a closer look at some common examples of cybercrime that organizations face.

Cyber extortion — executing or threatening to perform an attack on an organization and demanding a ransom in exchange for stopping or preventing the attack. A ransomware attack is a form of extortion in which cybercriminals encrypt the victim’s data until a ransom is paid.

Cyber espionage — hacking into government or corporate systems to exfiltrate confidential information to gain a competitive, political, economic, or military advantage.

Cryptojacking — secretly utilizing the victim’s computer resources for unauthorized cryptocurrency mining. The victim suffers low system efficiency and high power usage.

Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks — overwhelming a system or network with excessive traffic, making it inaccessible to legitimate users. A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) uses multiple compromised devices to oversaturate the traffic, making it even more challenging to defend against.

Phishing — sending deceptive emails or text messages to trick employees into transferring money to hackers’ accounts or revealing sensitive information like corporate account credentials.

Malware attacks — using viruses, worms, Trojans, and spyware to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorized access to organizational systems.

How does cybercrime impact organizations?

Cybercrime can impact organizations in various ways. First, it can cause significant financial damage, as cybercriminals may steal funds or demand ransomware payments. Recovering from cybercrime incidents can also incur additional costs.

Second, cybercrimes can interrupt business operations, leading to poor productivity and low customer satisfaction. Denial-of-service attacks, ransomware, and other types of attacks can severely disrupt your business processes, which may negatively influence your revenue. On top of this, it can take a substantial period of time to restore operations to normal after a cybersecurity incident.

Cybercrime can also damage your organization’s reputation, leading to a loss of customer trust and brand value. When customer data is compromised, customers and partners may feel insecure about doing business with you. This can result in customer churn, difficulty attracting new customers, and lost business opportunities.

Finally, organizations in regulated industries may face compliance issues due to cybercrime incidents. Thus, if a data breach has been confirmed, your organization can face hefty fines and penalties for failing to protect customer data.

Understanding the impact of cybercrime is crucial, but knowing how to identify cybercrime and stop it in time is even more vital. Let’s dive into the best practices for safeguarding your organization against cybercrime.

How to prevent cyberattacks on your organization

Here, we’ll explore some key steps and best practices for minimizing the risk of cyber threats and enhancing your organization’s protection against cybercrime.

1. Develop security policies

Outline security measures for protecting systems and corporate data and reduce the risk of cybercrime in your organization. Examples of the most critical information security policies to implement include the following:

• Acceptable use policy to define what employees are allowed to do on company computers and within the network 
• Access control policy to describe what resources specific users and groups can access and how  access to corporate data and systems should be managed
• Password policy to set criteria for secure passwords, such as minimum length, complexity, and how frequently they must be changed
• Data backup and recovery policy to outline how often data should be backed up, where backups should be stored, and how data should be restored in the event of data loss
• Incident response policy to describe the steps to be taken in the event of a cybercrime incident

2. Segment your network

Network segmentation is a cybersecurity strategy that involves dividing a network into smaller, isolated segments. It offers comprehensive control over the traffic flow between segments, helping you effectively prevent the spread of cyberattacks.

For instance, you can segment your organization’s network to separate financial data from customer data. This way, if an attacker breaches the segment with customer data, the financial data remains secure.

3. Implement zero trust security

Zero trust is a security framework according to which no user or device is trusted by default. Instead, you should verify every access request before granting access permissions to users. 

By verifying every request with two-factor authentication (2FA), manual access approval, or other means, zero trust security can help you prevent attackers from gaining unauthorized access to organizational systems and data.

4. Keep your software up to date

Regularly updating operating systems and software with the most current patches is crucial to safeguarding your organization against cybercrime. It can prevent cybercriminals from exploiting known vulnerabilities to access, steal, or damage your organization’s data.

5. Raise cybersecurity awareness

Lack of awareness is among the most common causes of cybercrime. Conduct cybersecurity awareness training to educate your employees on how to identify, avoid, and mitigate cyber threats. 

Training programs should include computer-based modules and simulated phishing attacks, in which fake phishing emails are sent to employees to test their reactions. Such training fosters a security-conscious culture within your organization, increasing your resilience against cyber attacks.

6. Use dedicated cybersecurity software

Utilizing dedicated cybersecurity solutions can help you prevent cybercrime in your organization more effectively. Here are some examples of how cybersecurity software can be used to prevent cybercrime:

• Firewalls act as a barrier between a network and the outside world, blocking any unauthorized access or malicious data.
• Antivirus software protects systems from malware by detecting and removing malicious code, such as viruses, worms, and Trojans.
• Privileged access management (PAM) solutions restrict access to sensitive systems and data, limiting the potential damage an attacker could inflict if they compromise a corporate account.
• Password managers securely store and manage staff’s login credentials, reducing the risk of password theft.
• User activity monitoring (UAM) tools track and record user activity on corporate endpoints. They can detect suspicious activity and help you effectively respond to security incidents. 

Syteca is a cybersecurity platform that combines powerful PAM and advanced UAM solutions to protect your organization from within. PAM streamlines secure access provisioning, while UAM provides continuous oversight.

Key features of Syteca include privileged account discovery, workforce password management, two-factor authentication, session recording, real-time security alerts, and automated incident response. Our comprehensive platform can help you address cybercrime risks and promptly mitigate cyber threats as they occur.