By coming forward and admitting that they are in fact, victims of online hacking, several Fortune 500 companies and reputable organizations have taken the position that they are less concerned that their admission will hurt their business and are more determined to improve cybersecurity in general and help resolve the issue once and for all.
Corporate Victims of Online Hacking Come Forward
We live in a digital age today, an age where technology can dictate an economy’s success or decline. Cyberspace has become a vital ground for different types of trade and business operations. Most companies will not function efficiently if their systems are not working properly. To keep abreast of these advancements, criminals have also devised ways to effectively defraud and embezzle consumers and business owners online.
Most companies often choose to keep silent until the breach is reported by another individual. It is very rare for a company to actually admit that their systems have been compromised. However, Fortune 500 companies and reputable organizations are one by one breaking their silence about this prevailing cyber quandary. This crime has been repeatedly victimizing thousands of American corporations in the last few years now some courageous groups have chosen to step forward. These companies expressed that they are more concerned about having this issue resolved than being questioned for their capability to keep their systems secure.
Top corporations such as Apple and Google who seem to have their data and network security tenaciously protected have also admitted that they have fallen prey to highly ingenious hackers. Chief social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have also disclosed the same experience.
Companies are changing their perspective and are becoming more fearless despite the detriments that come with admitting a weak spot in this intensifying technological warfare.
After the highly-publicized admission by these corporate giants, media conglomerates such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post soon followed suit. The Wall Street Journal, in particular, believes that Chinese hackers are behind this felony.
In 2011, McAfee researchers reported a massive espionage campaign, called Operation Shady Rat which targeted more than 70 organizations in a five-year span. Former McAfee VP for Threat Research, Dmitri Alperovitch states, “I am convinced that every company in every conceivable industry with significant size and valuable intellectual property and trade secrets has been compromised (or will be shortly) with the great majority of the victims rarely discovering the intrusion or its impact. In fact, I divide the entire set of Fortune Global 2000 firms into two categories: those that know they’ve been compromised and those that don’t yet know.” He is currently the Chief Technology Officer at a security start-up called Crowdstrike.
Despite the bold declarations that leading corporations have made, other companies rumored to have been perpetrated by hackers refuse to confirm reports. The International Olympic Committee, Exxon Mobil, Baker Hughes, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Chesapeake Energy, the British energy giant BG Group, the steel maker ArcelorMittal and Coca-Cola are some of the corporations who have chosen to stay mum about this issue, despite news reports of hacking.
In an aim to reinforce cybersecurity in their respective industries, fearless companies chose to take a stand and reported data breach incidents that can hurt their business. Some feel that they have a moral and professional responsibility to inform the public as this also affects their clients directly. More than anyone else, it is the consumer’s personal data that has been violated or will be violated. Credit card fraud and online identity theft are just two of the damaging effects of data breaches to consumers.
In a recent speech, President Barack Obama declared “cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation” and that “America’s economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on cybersecurity.”
In line with this, the President directed a comprehensive review of the Federal Government’s efforts to safeguard the country’s information and communications infrastructure. Now that this issue is being attended to by upstanding business leaders and on a national level, isn’t it time you address this on a personal level by checking your credit report to ensure that your identity has not been compromised.
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