#Modern day mafia 4 professional#

Once the private details of your life are at stake, you’re much more willing to do whatever a hacker wants-even if it means paying a ransom to keep your secrets safe.” “However, the Ashley Madison hack changed the game because it made hacking personal. Chris Drake, founder and CEO of Armor, talked about the impact of data breaches on the average person and how having financial or healthcare data compromised is a concern-but one we’ve become somewhat numb to as a society. Ransomware and many DDoS attacks are very reminiscent of the “protection money” mafias traditionally demand. “It is natural that hackers would focus on the Web application security areas of the community to target, just as a mafia would send its members out into the community to find “easy pickings” businesses and milk them for all they could.” Hinkley suggests that Web applications are the modern-day equivalent of the low-hanging fruit that organized crime likes to go after. They might make an example of a defiant business just to prove a point, but the mafia understood the value-effort-reward-risk profile of the businesses they were targeting. When mafia enforcers encountered a business capable of defending itself and standing up to the demands they would move on.

#Modern day mafia 4 professional#

Professional criminal networks tend to form as a result to handle the ‘logistics’ and soon hierarchies are formed.”Ĭraig Hinkley, CEO of WhiteHat Security, talked about the basic approach of the traditional mafia and how they would target the smallest and weakest businesses in the community to extort money. “The person skilled at stealing data is not always as skilled at turning data into money. “Criminals form supply chain relationships just like businesses,” said Bethany Mayer, President and CEO of Ixia. Regardless of its origins, there’s a reason that crime naturally becomes organized to some extent. No matter their means of thievery, criminals have the same desired outcome in mind.” They have changed ski masks for the anonymity of the internet and are able to resell precious data in the dark and deep perils of the web.

“They have exchanged explosives and guns for vulnerabilities and exploits. In today’s world, the Internet creates a new playground for thieves,” explained Kevin Hickey, President and CEO of BeyondTrust. “History serves as a great teacher of how organized crime develops and ways criminals are able to locate their desired assets. The basic concept of the mafia has evolved to take advantage of the Internet. Add in intimidation and proof of power through “enforcement”, and it reaches the levels we have become familiar with on television and in movies.” “’Mafia’ is typically defined as a hierarchically-structured secret organization allegedly engaged in smuggling, racketeering, trafficking in narcotics, and other criminal activities. Thompson, CEO of Rook Security, provided a description of what we generally perceive as organized crime.