Chicago Takes Major Hit With Breaches
From the desk of Charles Leaver CEO Ziften Technologies
If you live, work or run a business in Chicago, you’d be well advised to consider a new report that reveals the city is one of the most susceptible in the country when it comes to cyberattacks. The report was conducted by The National Consumers League, a Washington D.C.-based group that focuses on consumer advocacy, according to The Chicago Sun-Times. Among the alarming findings in the study was the revelation that 43 percent of people in Chicago who had information stolen also had to deal with online purchases being made with their swiped data. What this points to is the fact that hackers are behaving in a more proactive manner with regard to stolen data.
If your business gets breached, expect the compromised information to be put to malicious use.
As John Breyault, vice president of public policy for the National Consumers League, put it, “Chicagoans who receive a data-breach notification should pay particular attention to purchases made online (in their name).”
But Chicagoans aren’t just sitting idly by and absorbing this news with disinterest. According to CBS Chicago, the state’s Attorney General Lisa Madigan is spearheading an effort to encourage the creation of a federal group that would be charged solely with investigating data security incidents. Madigan said that with the rampant nature of attacks – her office is currently investigating the Target and Neiman Marcus breaches, among others – the government has a responsibility to do something about it.
“It just makes sense that somebody has to take responsibility in this day and age for putting in place safety standards for our personal financial information, because otherwise you have disruption and a significant impact, potentially, to the overall marketplace,” she said.
However, it’s not clear what a timeline on the creation of such a group would look like. After all, getting anything to happen at the federal level can be a very slow process.
Protecting against attacks with endpoint threat detection and response software
Fortunately for businesses in Chicago and beyond, you don’t have to wait around for a federal group to be assembled in order to ensure the safety of your company. By enacting endpoint protection software, you can take a significant step toward making your enterprise virtually hacker-proof. Without robust endpoint protection, businesses all but leave the doors to their company open to malicious intruders.
If you live, work or run a business in Chicago, you’d be well advised to consider a new report that reveals the city is one of the most susceptible in the country when it comes to cyberattacks. The report was conducted by The National Consumers League, a Washington D.C.-based group that focuses on consumer advocacy, according to The Chicago Sun-Times. Among the alarming findings in the study was the revelation that 43 percent of people in Chicago who had information stolen also had to deal with online purchases being made with their swiped data. What this points to is the fact that hackers are behaving in a more proactive manner with regard to stolen data.
If your business gets breached, expect the compromised information to be put to malicious use.
As John Breyault, vice president of public policy for the National Consumers League, put it, “Chicagoans who receive a data-breach notification should pay particular attention to purchases made online (in their name).”
But Chicagoans aren’t just sitting idly by and absorbing this news with disinterest. According to CBS Chicago, the state’s Attorney General Lisa Madigan is spearheading an effort to encourage the creation of a federal group that would be charged solely with investigating data security incidents. Madigan said that with the rampant nature of attacks – her office is currently investigating the Target and Neiman Marcus breaches, among others – the government has a responsibility to do something about it.
“It just makes sense that somebody has to take responsibility in this day and age for putting in place safety standards for our personal financial information, because otherwise you have disruption and a significant impact, potentially, to the overall marketplace,” she said.
However, it’s not clear what a timeline on the creation of such a group would look like. After all, getting anything to happen at the federal level can be a very slow process.
Protecting against attacks with endpoint threat detection and response software
Fortunately for businesses in Chicago and beyond, you don’t have to wait around for a federal group to be assembled in order to ensure the safety of your company. By enacting endpoint protection software, you can take a significant step toward making your enterprise virtually hacker-proof. Without robust endpoint protection, businesses all but leave the doors to their company open to malicious intruders.