On Tuesday, the FBI disclosed that hackers have managed to pilfer over $3 billion from companies in scams where crooks impersonate company execs ordering large wire transfers via email. In fact, this happened to a firm we know here in Atlanta - BitPay - with a loss of over $1.8 million from just such a phishing hack in 2015.
The FBI disclosed that over 22,000 cases involving business email compromise had been reported internationally from October 2013 through May 30, 2016. It seems there has also been a sharp increase in cases reported since February 2016. In an additional statistic, the bureau reported a 1300% increase since January 2015 (wow, that's a VERY big increase) in identified losses through these specific types of hacks. The size of the losses vary widely from case to case, from about $10,000 to tens of millions of dollars, per FBI Supervisory Special Agent Mitchell Thompson.
In fact, FintekNews wonders if these numbers are low. Many firms may not wish to report losses of this nature, as they may feel it could scare customers away. I'm just sayin'..............
Original Source for Story: Reuters