What is the cost of Malware?
Often discussed what is the real cost of Malware with my customers. So this week we can actually put some hard facts to this question. For the retailers like TJ Max it has been very tough, Customer Loyalty, Sales, Government Fines, Trust, and internal expenses to identify and try to fix the leak.
But a cost not discussed is the cost to the criminal! Why should we care? Well I believe that by pointing out the costs it may help deter some people from trying this activity. I am sure there are some who say it might also encourage them but at least we can say we tried to make people aware.
So what are the costs to the criminal, well lets see…. First 25 years in jail, what a deal on this plea bargain he could have gone away for 100’s as seen in the article from MSNBC. Additionally the criminal has to return millions of dollars in assets and cash. Like I said this is not a sympathy statement it is just pointing out the total cost of a crime like this. The article from MSNBC is called Hacker in massive card data theft pleads guilty.
Lastly the cost to each individual customer of the retailer that was effected and even to those of us that weren’t. Now we all most constantly look over our shoulder and wonder could it happen to me. But also be careful not to fall a victim of this crime by trusting others to do diligence for us. You must learn to try to identify scams and ask the old question “Is this to good to be true?” If it seems like it then investigate before clicking, buying or committing to any activity.
I realize many of the victims in the TJ Max had no control but as you will see in the video below many times we do have the control.
Additional criminal activity is utilizing simple social networking techniques through places like http://www.myspace.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/ please view this video on just one example of this activity.
Note: As you view this video please ignore ads for PC Tools (we do not endorse this product. Additionally we believe that there are better tools than Norton’s but the story is very relavant). (Video link if not seen below)
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