Veronica Carter, Illinois News Connection
CHICAGO, IL -(Effingham Radio)- Billions of dollars are lost every year repairing systems hit by cybercriminals. Headlines are made when they take down vital systems, disrupting and sometimes disabling the work of hospitals, schools, banks and 911 services around the country.
Steve Bernas, president and chief executive of the Better Business Bureau says even though we don’t hear about it often in the news, small businesses and average people around the world also are falling victim daily.
“Recent reports that the Better Business Bureau has reviewed indicate that upwards of 50 percent of small businesses have had their data breached in the last year, and that’s alarming numbers,” he says.
The Better Business Bureau, the Small Business Administration and the Federal Trade Commission have teamed up for a forum today in Chicago called “Keeping Your Small Business Safe in the Digital Age.”
Bernas says who are behind cyber attacks runs the gamut from individuals looking for bragging rights, to businesses trying to gain an upper hand in the marketplace, rings of criminals wanting to steal personal information and sell it on black markets, to spies and terrorists looking for vital information or launch cyber strikes.
“The U.S. government has identified cybercrime as one of the most serious, economic national-security challenges we face as a nation, with a global estimated cost of $400 billion,” he notes.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, identity-theft complaints nearly doubled between 2010 and 2015. However, the numbers are much higher than publicly reported statistics because some law- enforcement agencies classify them differently than others.