Transport firms and social media 'influencers' a target for cybercriminals

The transport industry has been warned it must beef up its online defences from a proliferation of attacks expected in the "new arms race" that is cybercrime.

Transport firms and social media 'influencers' a target for cybercriminals

The transport industry has been warned it must beef up its online defences from a proliferation of attacks expected in the "new arms race" that is cybercrime.

That is according to cybersecurity expert Ronan Murphy of Cork-based Smarttech247, who was speaking after an IBM report revealed transport has leapt to the top of the list of targets for online criminals and rogue nations, second only to financial services.

IBM's report found the number of attempted attacks recorded in the transport sector increased threefold in 2018.Dublin's Luas was hacked in January, with the data of thousands of users thought to have been compromised.

Mr Murphy said in addition to public transport and vital national infrastructure being targeted, freight firms were also a target.

With Brexit looming, being a target of a cyber attack was another headache freight and logistics firms did not want, he said.

"If the supply chain for a transport firm is hampered by the Brexit outcome, then it would be profoundly exacerbated by a cyber attack.

"The cliche is that data is the new oil because it has become such a precious valuable commodity. But the flip side of that is data is also a liability for firms," Mr Murphy said.

Mr Murphy said attacks on critical infrastructure like hospitals and banks would also become more common, with so-called rogue states "flexing their muscles" to manipulate public opinion and sow discord.

This is a new arms race. We've seen the political discourse manipulated with the Trump election and Brexit vote. Russia happens to be better at it than most others at the moment.

"By attacking critical infrastructure like a power grid, rogue nations can sow public discontent in different countries. It's a type of war footing," he said.

Smarttech247 has acted as intermediaries for firms paying ransoms to retrieve data this year, Mr Murphy said.

"This year we've had clients pay out €500,000. We invariably advise firms not to pay when extorted, but some companies do just to resolve the matter swiftly. It can be a licence to print money for these criminals," he said.

Mr Murphy was speaking ahead of the Zero Day Con event in Dublin next week, where cybersecurity experts from Europol, the FBI, the Gardaí, Trend Micro, Microsoft and IBM will give their insights into the multi-trillion euro criminal industry.

Trend Micro has said that high-profile social media accounts are now the target of sophisticated ransom demands.

A report by the firm's threat researchers Jindrich Karasek and Cedric Pernet said hackers see the hacking of accounts with thousands of followers as "trophies".

"We’ve seen cases where owners of Instagram profiles with followers between 15,000 and 70,000 were hacked and were never retrieved. The victims ranged from famous actors and singers to owners of startup businesses like photoshoot equipment rentals," they said.

Turkish cybercriminals have zoned in on this form of online extortion, the report said.

The group also engages in digital extortion. Once a victim tries to reach out to the hacker, they would be wringed to fork over a ransom or nude photos and videos to get the account back.

"Of course, the hackers never give it back. Indeed, this kind of attack — targeting high-profile accounts or social media influencers — highlights our predictions for this year’s threat landscape," it said.

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